Jurors convict accomplice in drive-by murder of woman on Twin Cities sidewalk

Jurors have convicted a co-defendant of murder for his role in the fatal drive-by shooting of a woman in north Minneapolis 18 months ago.

Derrick Lamon Johnson, 52, of Minneapolis, was found guilty Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court of second-degree murder in connection with the death on Aug. 9, 2023, of 34-year-old Stevi Rae Palacio, of Minneapolis, near Thomas and Oak Park avenues N.

Johnson remains jailed without bail ahead of his sentencing on Feb. 7.

Co-defendant Tremaine Michael Bucholz, 27, of Minneapolis, was found guilty in December of first-degree murder during a drive-by shooting and second-degree intentional murder. He received the mandatory sentence of life in prison with the opportunity for parole in 30 years.

Prosecutors said they believe Bucholz was a shooter in Palacio’s death.

According to the charges:

Reported gunfire shortly after midnight sent officers to the scene, where they found Palacio on the sidewalk shot in the back. She was taken by emergency responders to HCMC and pronounced dead there.

Police obtained video from a resident’s doorbell camera, and it captured a cargo van stopping alongside Palacio before a gunshot from someone in the front passenger seat wounded her. Palacio started running, and the same person fired seven more shots, with one hitting her in the back.

Police found the van a day later parked in the underground garage of an apartment complex in the 2200 block of Golden Valley Road where Johnson lives. Its passenger-side window was shattered by gunfire from inside the vehicle.

Investigators collected Bucholz’s and Johnson’s fingerprints from the van.

Police arrested Bucholz on Sept. 5, 2022. He admitted to being in the van but not to shooting Palacio. The charges also failed to indicate a motive for the killing.