Federal jury convicts Derrick Thompson of gun, drug counts in Minneapolis crash that killed 5

A federal jury Friday returned guilty verdicts on gun and drug charges against Derrick John Thompson in connection with the Minneapolis crash that killed five women in June 2023 after he sped off Interstate 35W in and slammed into the car they were riding in.

The verdicts on the fourth day of the trial in U.S. District Court in St. Paul were guilty for all counts: possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm “during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.” Thompson did not testify.

While Thompson, 28, of Brooklyn Park and the son of former DFL state Rep. John Thompson, now awaits sentencing in this case, he also has third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide charges pending in Hennepin County in connection with the crash.

In the meantime, Thompson remains in federal custody in the Sherburne County jail. Sentencing has yet to be scheduled.

The crash victims were Sabiriin Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Sahra Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; Salma Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sagal Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis, and Siham Adam, 19, of Minneapolis. On the night they were killed, the women were heading home after running errands before a friend’s wedding the next day. Their funeral was attended by thousands, and an online fundraiser to support the victims’ families raised more than $450,000.

During this week’s federal trial, Thompson’s defense attorneys argued that the drugs and a loaded Glock pistol with an extended magazine discovered in the Escalade actually belong to his brother Damarco John Thompson — whom both the prosecution and defense said was a passenger in the SUV and fled the scene along with Derrick Thompson.

Damarco Thompson has not been arrested or charged with any crimes connected to the crash.

Police found three phones in the car, one for each brother and another they shared. They found video, text and voice messages on Derrick Thompson’s phone documenting narcotics being weighed for sale and negotiations over drug purchases.

A black leather bag carrying the gun and drugs was found beneath a distinctive blue cap Damarco Thompson was captured wearing earlier that night as he dropped Derrick off to rent the Escalade at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The bag held a loaded Glock handgun with an extended magazine and more than 2,000 blue pills containing fentanyl, 14 grams of powdered fentanyl and 35 grams of cocaine.

According to court documents, a state trooper saw Thompson driving 95 miles per hour north on I-35W in an Escalade that night. The trooper followed Thompson but did not turn on his emergency lights or sirens, because he didn’t want to attempt a traffic stop on city streets given the dangerous driving. The Escalade was seen abruptly cutting across all four lanes and weaving around other vehicles before exiting at Lake Street.

About a block behind Thompson, the trooper saw the Escalade “fly through a red light at the intersection of Lake Street and Second Avenue,” crashing into a Honda Civic that was crossing the intersection on a green light. Surveillance video from a nearby business captured the deadly crash.

Witnesses described Thompson fleeing the scene on foot with a noticeable limp. He was arrested in the parking lot of a nearby Taco Bell, sweaty and bleeding. Police body-worn camera footage played to jurors Tuesday showed Thompson claiming first that the visible blood on his body was from an old injury before later claiming to have tripped on a log in the parking lot.

Police found a rental record for the Escalade in Thompson’s name on the ground near the front passenger door. The record showed he rented it about a half-hour before the crash. Video from Hertz at the airport showed Thompson and his brother arrive, and Derrick Thompson renting the Escalade and the two men departing in separate vehicles.

Thompson suffered a hip fracture from the crash and declined surgery before being jailed, according to court records. While at the hospital, he allegedly expressed feelings of remorse about the crash to a nurse who treated him and made it clear to her that he had been driving, according to a trial brief filed by the government. But Thompson denied attempting to flee police when the crash happened.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office added new murder charges last month, just after a prosecutor from her office disclosed that Thompson was offered a deal to plead guilty to five of 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide while causing the crash and fleeing the scene. Terms of the plea called for Thompson to serve between 32 and 38 years in prison. The county would in return drop the other five charges of criminal vehicular homicide while operating a motor vehicle in a gross or negligent manner.

Thompson is barred from possessing firearms based on similar past convictions in California. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to evading an officer causing injury, leaving the scene of a crash involving permanent injury and conspiracy to possess marijuana for sale. The charges stemmed from an incident two years earlier in which he fled police in a vehicle, struck and severely injured a pedestrian and fled on foot. Officers found more than 8 kilograms of marijuana in Thompson’s car. He was released from prison on the charges about six months before the June 2023 crash in Minneapolis.

Star Tribune staff writers Stephen Montemayor and Jeff Day contributed to this report.