A Minnesota judge has extended the prison sentence for Derrick Thompson, convicted in a high-speed crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis in 2023. Thompson now faces about 64 years total behind bars after federal sentencing on drug and firearm charges. The ruling came this week following his state conviction last July.
Derrick Thompson, 29, was convicted in July of five counts of third-degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide related to a crash on June 16, 2023, on Interstate 35W in south Minneapolis. A state trooper testified to following Thompson without emergency lights before he sped onto East Lake Street, striking and killing five women: Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sabiriin Ali, 17; Sagal Hersi, 19; and Siham Odhowa, 19. The victims were friends preparing for a wedding at the time, according to court documents. Thompson drove erratically at speeds topping 100 mph in a rented Cadillac containing a loaded handgun, more than 2,000 fentanyl pills, and other narcotics. His defense claimed his brother, Damarco Thompson, was driving, but Damarco testified he was not in the vehicle during the crash, having been inside it only briefly after rental at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Last July, Judge Carolina A. Lamas imposed a state sentence of 58 years and eight months. This week, in federal court, Thompson received 14 additional years for fentanyl and firearm charges, with some time concurrent, leading to an expected total of about 64 years in prison. Thompson is the son of former Minnesota State Rep. John Thompson.