Derrick Thompson to be sentenced in Minneapolis crash that killed 5 young women
A jury found 32-year-old Derrick Thompson guilty last month in the deaths of Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sabiriin Ali 17; Sagal Hersi, 19; and Siham Odhowa, 19. The group of friends were preparing for a friend's wedding at the time of the crash.
Thompson was convicted of five counts of third-degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
Law enforcement say he topped speeds of 100 mph while driving erratically on Interstate 35W on the night of June 16, 2023. A state trooper testified they were following Thompson without emergency lights activated, and saw him speed off onto East Lake Street, where he struck and instantly killed the victims.
His sentencing hearing is set to start Thursday at 10 a.m. in a Hennepin County courtroom. Many of the victims' families are expected to be on hand, as they were during the trial.
"It's over and the girls can finally rest in peace. Still, [Thompson] can call his mom and dad and tell them he loves them, but our daughters will never call us," said Fadumo Warsame, Gesaade's mother, following the verdict. "We're never going to see their wedding. We're never going to see our grandchildren."
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said her office plans to seek a lengthy sentence.
"Mr. Thompson is being held accountable, and we will do everything we can to ensure that he can never do this again," Moriarty said last month.
Thompson's defense argued his brother was actually behind the wheel driving. Damarco Thompson testified he wasn't in the Cadillac during the crash, and was only briefly inside when his brother rented it earlier at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Thompson was convicted of several federal drug and illegal firearm charges. His next federal court hearing is set for Aug. 25.
WCCO will have a crew inside the courtroom and will bring you updates both on air and online.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Alabama child dies after being left in hot car while in state custody, authorities say
Alabama authorities are investigating the death of a three-year-old boy who was left in a hot car by a contractor for the state human resources department on July 22, police said. Ketorrius Starks had been "accidentally left inside of a vehicle" while in the care of a third-party worker contracted by the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the state's child protective services agency, the Birmingham Police Department told USA TODAY on July 27. Officers received a report of an unresponsive child shortly after 5:30 p.m. local time on July 22. Authorities discovered Ketorrius inside of a vehicle parked outside of a residence in a Birmingham neighborhood, according to police. The Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced the child dead at the scene. The child had been left alone in the vehicle between 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., according to the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner's Office. He was pronounced dead at 6:03 p.m., the medical examiner's office said. The child was initially identified by the medical examiner's office as Katerrius Sparks, of Bessemer, Alabama, police said. The chief deputy coroner, Bill Yates, said in a statement to USA TODAY that the medical examiner's office had received multiple variations of the child's name from his family. Yates noted that Ketorrius Starks is the most recent spelling of the child's name provide by his family and their funeral director. The Birmingham Police Department said it is currently conducting a death investigation. The contract worker, who has not been publicly identified by police, was transported to the police department for questioning and has been cooperative in the investigation, police said. The Alabama Department of Human Resources confirmed to local media outlets that the child "was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred," adding that the worker had been terminated, according to WVTM 13 and The state human resources department did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on July 27. Where do hot car deaths happen the most? Data reveals where (and when) it's most common. Reports: Family attorney says contract worker was supposed to return child to day care The family's attorney, Courtney French, told and CNN that the contract worker had picked up Ketorrius from day care at around 9 a.m. on July 22 for a supervised visit with his father. The visit, which ended at about 11:30 a.m., was part of a court-ordered process for the parents to regain their custody of Ketorrius, according to CNN. After the visit ended, French alleged that the worker made "numerous personal errands" with Ketorrius in the back of their vehicle instead of returning him to day care, CNN and reported. The worker then returned to their home, leaving Ketorrius in the vehicle for about five hours, according to the news outlets. In a statement shared by French, according to Ketorrius' family called the incident a "parent's worst nightmare." "Our baby should be alive,' the family added in the statement. Hot temperatures and humidity were recorded on the day of the incident, according to the National Weather Service's office in Birmingham. The maximum temperature on July 22 reached 96 degrees shortly before 3 p.m., the weather service said in its daily climatological report. Tips to prevent summer tragedy: Child hot car deaths could happen in any family. Alabama child is the latest hot car death in the U.S. In 2024, there were 41 child deaths in hot cars across the United States from May to November, according to data compiled by Kids and Car Safety, which tracks such deaths and advocates for preventative measures. The most common months for hot car deaths are June, July, and August when sweltering temperatures grip much of the nation. More than 1,100 children have died in hot cars nationwide since 1990, Kids and Car Safety said in a news release on July 23. At least 7,500 other children have survived with injuries. The group said Ketorrius is at least the 16th child to die in a hot car in 2025. "Approximately 88% of children who die in hot cars are age 3 or younger and the majority (55%) were unknowingly left by an otherwise loving, responsible parent or caregiver," according to Kids and Car Safety. The group and other experts have noted that most hot car deaths are accidental, and these types of incidents can happen to anyone. Hot car deaths most often occur when a parent or caregiver has a change in routine or miscommunicate with each other over who's in charge of taking the child inside, Kids and Car Safety founder Janette Fennell previously told USA TODAY. The same brain mechanism that causes a person to leave their cup of coffee on top of their car and drive away also causes someone to leave a child behind, Fennell said. In many cases, a change in routine — such as a parent who doesn't normally do day care drop-off — and a brain operating on autopilot leads to the tragedy. "In over half of hot car deaths, the person responsible for the child unknowingly left them in the vehicle," according to Kids and Car Safety. "In most situations, this happens to loving, caring, and protective parents. It has happened to a teacher, dentist, social worker, police officer, nurse, clergyman, soldier, and even a rocket scientist." Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alabama child dies in hot car while in state custody: Authorities
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
LAPD station evacuates after military ordnance is dropped off
A couple brought a military explosive device into a Los Angeles Police Department station Saturday afternoon in an attempt to dispose of it, spurring officials to temporarily evacuate the Pacoima station and nearby homes. The incident comes less than two weeks after an explosion killed three Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives — the deadliest incident for the Sheriff's Department in more than 150 years. Three agency veterans died in the incident: Dets. Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn. According to the LAPD, two people came into the Pacoima station at 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon and said they were cleaning out the home of a family member who recently died when they found what they believed were explosives. The department's bomb squad used a robot to take images of the plastic box the couple had brought, which had 'several military ordnances inside.' After deeming them safe to transfer, the bomb squad moved them to a storage facility for the U.S. military to collect. In the latest twist in the case in which the sheriff's detectives were killed, one of the grenades found before the explosion is missing, authorities said Friday. Two hand grenades were discovered in a Santa Monica town home complex — one of them exploded with deadly results, and the other one "is unaccounted for at this time," Sheriff Robert Luna said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Fox News
26 minutes ago
- Fox News
Lindsey Graham spars with NBC anchor over Tulsi Gabbard's new Russiagate allegations
NBC "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker asked Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., if he was trying to "distract from the Epstein matter" during a heated exchange on Sunday over Trump administration allegations that former President Obama may have directed the U.S. intelligence agencies to implicate Trump in the Russiagate scandal. "You're trying to sweep this stuff under the rug, and that's not right!" Graham said. The argument erupted over the recent allegations lodged by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard claimed that declassified intelligence documents and a declassified 2020 House Intelligence Committee report revealed that in the waning days of the Obama administration, the then-president ordered U.S. intel agencies to alter their assessment of Russia's attempts to interfere in the election specifically to help elect Donald Trump. The DNI director said that the intelligence agencies had originally concluded that Russia was not trying to help Trump get elected. Gabbard alleged that the agencies in fact had evidence that Putin expected Hillary Clinton to win the presidency. Gabbard alleged that this was tantamount to a "treasonous conspiracy." "The treasonous conspiracy that we have now released to the American people — the complicity, the deflection, and the silence of politicians, of the mainstream media, and of those directly implicated into this speaks volumes," Gabbard told Fox & Friends. President Trump called for Obama and others to face "very severe consequences" for attempting to "rig the election." Obama issued a rare official response to Trump, blasting the claims as "bizarre" and a "weak attempt at distraction." "The bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes," he said. "These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," a spokesperson for Obama said. Welker claimed that she had spoken to Republican former CIA officer Susan Miller, who categorically denied Gabbard's claims. The NBC anchor also pointed to a Trump-appointed special counsel, John H. Durham, who she claimed concluded in 2023 that there was no political interference in the Russiagate probe. She also played a clip of Graham himself saying in 2017 that the Russians interfered in the election to embarrass Hillary Clinton. "There's only one person in Washington that I know of that has any doubt about what Russia did in our election and is President Trump," Graham said at the time. The South Carolina senator replied that Gabbard's report contained information that hadn't previously been disclosed, and that the allegations warranted a special counsel investigation. "Well, what I am saying is that you left a lot out here… The Mueller investigation was crooked and rotten to the core. The Washington Post and the New York Times got a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on Trump's campaign's relationship with Russia. It was all B.S.," Graham said. Graham said he isn't calling for former President Obama to be prosecuted for treason, but said that a special counsel should look into whether the former president ordered the intelligence report to be changed because he didn't like the outcome. He lamented that so many lives got turned upside down by the Mueller investigation, and accused Welker of trying to sweep the administration's findings "under the rug." "For years and months and days and weeks, people had their lives turned upside down, chasing the Mueller narrative that Trump was in bed with the Russians, that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russian… You're trying to sweep this stuff under the rug and that's not right," he said.
