Man Sentenced for Fentanyl, Gun Charges in Crash That Killed 5
Scene of the Minneapolis crash Friday, June 16, 2023. Submitted
BY MN CRIME STAFF
A man already serving a 58-year state prison sentence for a high-speed crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis has been sentenced on federal drug and gun charges.
Derrick John Thompson, 30, of Brooklyn Park, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
Thompson was convicted of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.
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The judge ordered that 60 months of the federal sentence will run consecutively to the 58.6-year state sentence Thompson got in July 2025 for third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide in Hennepin County District Court. The rest of the federal sentence will run concurrently.
The charges stem from a June 16, 2023 crash at the intersection of East Lake Street and 2nd Avenue South in Minneapolis that killed five young women riding in a Honda Civic. A Minnesota State Patrol trooper had spotted Thompson speeding at 95 miles per hour in a 55 zone on northbound I-35W in a rented black Cadillac Escalade. The trooper watched Thompson cut across four lanes of traffic to exit at Lake Street but didn't initiate a traffic stop to avoid a dangerous pursuit on city streets.
Moments later, Thompson ran a red light at the intersection and struck the Honda Civic at full speed. All five occupants — Siham Adan Odhowa, 19, Sahra Liban Gesaade, 20, Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, Sagal Burhaan Hersi, 19, and Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, 20 — died at the scene.
The drugs, gun, ammo and extended mag police recovered in Thompson’s rented Escalade.
Thompson fled on foot but witnesses directed officers to him sitting outside a nearby restaurant. He was detained and transported to Hennepin Healthcare for evaluation.
PREVIOUSLY: Thompson Guilty in Fatal Minneapolis Crash, Drug Trafficking Case
After obtaining a search warrant for the Escalade, which Thompson had rented from a Hertz location at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport about 30 minutes before the crash, officers found a loaded Glock pistol with an extended magazine, more than 2,000 fentanyl pills, fourteen grams of fentanyl powder, 35 grams of cocaine and a digital scale inside a black leather bag on the front passenger floor.
Testing confirmed Thompson's DNA on the firearm, the fentanyl powder and the cocaine. Messages on his phone indicated ongoing fentanyl distribution, including recorded voice messages from days before the crash in which he requested to purchase 30,000 fentanyl pills.
A federal jury convicted Thompson in October 2024 after a five-day trial in U.S. District Court. He was subsequently found guilty at the state level of five counts of third-degree murder and ten counts of criminal vehicular homicide, receiving a 58-year sentence in July 2025.
PREVIOUSLY: Driver Who Killed Five in High-Speed Crash Sentenced to 58 Years
The deadly crash happened just five months after Thompson was released from prison in California for a similar incident in 2018. In that case, he fled from police in a vehicle containing eight kilograms of marijuana and struck a pedestrian, causing injuries severe enough to put the victim in a medically induced coma for 20 days.
Thompson is the son of former DFL State Representative John Thompson.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport Police Department.
Derrick John Thompson, 30, of Brooklyn Park, was sentenced 204 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.