Moorhead Shooting Suspect Indicted for First-Degree Murder

Jun 17

A Moorhead man accused in a fatal drive-by shooting earlier this year has been indicted by a Clay County grand jury on two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder.

Jerome Anthony Thomas, 35, was indicted last week in the April 13 shooting that left a 36-year-old man dead near an apartment complex in north Moorhead.

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Abby Nicole Fredrickson, 32, is also charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest.

Prosecutors say Thomas caused Hamilton’s death while committing a drive-by shooting and acted with premeditation. He now faces life in prison if convicted.

The indictment also charges Thomas with attempting to kill two others during the same incident. Charges include attempted murder with premeditation, attempted felony murder during a drive-by shooting, and attempted second-degree murder.

According to the criminal complaints, officers responded to the April shooting after receiving reports of gunfire in the 2700 block of 14th Street South in Moorhead. They found a man lying in a driveway with a gunshot wound to the head. The man, 39-year-old James Earl Hamilton, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A juvenile witness told police he was standing next to Hamilton in the driveway of a residence when a green Chevrolet Trax with temporary Indiana plates drove by. Thomas allegedly fired three gunshots from the driver’s seat. The witness said he recognized Thomas as the shooter and didn’t see anyone else in the vehicle. A few minutes later, a fourth gunshot was recorded on surveillance video from nearby buildings. A 911 caller who was on the phone with dispatchers at the time also reported hearing the final shot, describing the driver as having dreadlocks and wearing a red sweatshirt.

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A third victim told police she had driven Hamilton and the witness to the home where the shooting took place, but stayed in her vehicle due to a no-contact order with someone at the residence. She said Thomas pulled up next to her, hit her driver’s side window with his fist, then fired a shot at her before driving away. She identified him by name and said he knew what vehicle she drove. Surveillance footage captured the encounter and showed the suspect’s physical description matched what the witnesses had reported.

Police ultimately traced the SUV used during the shooting to Fredrickson, who was listed as the vehicle’s owner. When contacted by investigators, she claimed she had last seen Thomas around 11 p.m. the night before and that her vehicle was at her residence when she woke up around 11 a.m. on Sunday, well after the shooting. She denied knowing Thomas’s whereabouts and claimed she was over four hours from Moorhead with the SUV. After learning about the homicide investigation, Fredrickson told police she would return with the vehicle and call them, but she never did.

PREVIOUSLY: Suspect Sought After Shooting Homicide in Moorhead

Detectives used OnStar to track the SUV to a rural part of Michigan. Fredrickson’s phone was also located there, while Thomas’s phone was traced to Duluth, where it appeared to have remained in one location for an extended period.

A search of Fredrickson’s Moorhead apartment turned up ammunition matching the shell casings at the scene, an empty gun box and a red sweatshirt like the one seen on surveillance. Witnesses in the building said a man matching Thomas’s description had been staying there recently, court documents say. Officers also noted signs the apartment had been left in a hurry, finding food still in the microwave and an unlocked door.

Thomas made his first court appearance on the new indictment Monday morning, where bail was increased to $6 million without conditions or $4 million with conditions. Those include electronic monitoring, a ban on substance use, random testing, pre-trial supervision, and court approval before leaving Minnesota. He was also ordered to have no contact with the named victims and to remain law-abiding.

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