Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

A jury on Thursday convicted 30-year-old Cody Fohrenkam of second-degree intentional murder in last year’s 

 a 15-year old student and standout athlete at Minneapolis North Community High School.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before reaching a verdict.

. The criminal complaint didn’t offer a motive beyond saying Hill and Fohrenkam passed close to one another on a sidewalk near school, possibly close enough to brush shoulders. 

In his closing argument Thursday afternoon, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Dan Allard said that on the morning of the shooting, Fohrenkam had gone to a convenience store at Penn Avenue and Golden Valley Road to buy cigarettes. 

Fohrenkam was at the store when someone — prosecutors didn’t say who — punched him in the face and stole his phone. 

As the hours passed that day, Allard said Fohrenkam became angrier and confronted people while looking for his phone. 

Allard said after meeting Hill on the sidewalk, Fohrenkam pulled a gun from his backpack and fired it three times, striking Hill once in the back of his head as the teen was walking away wearing an orthopedic boot because of a broken foot. 

Witnesses and surveillance video put Fohrenkam at the scene.

“An innocent young man had the terrible misfortune of running across an angry angry man who couldn’t tolerate any more insults, and his response was to shoot him in the head and kill him,” Allard said.

In her closing argument, Hennepin County public defender Lisa Skrzeczkoski focused on the photo lineups that investigators presented to witnesses. Skrzeczkoski said only two of the five people to whom police showed photos identified Fohrenkam as the suspect. 

A lineup is supposed to include images of people who look similar to the suspect, but Skrzeczkoski said the other photos in the lineup were of people with darker complexions, which may have led witnesses to identify Fohrenkam.

 after being shot the previous day. He had played quarterback for the Polars football team. During a 

 following the shooting, friends and family described Hill as a star athlete and stellar student beloved by his peers.

On Thursday, surrounded by Hill’s loved ones following the conviction, family attorney William Walker praised the jury's verdict.

"Every single day, each and every one of these people have … thought about, cried for D-Hill Jr., every single day. They're missing him on the football team right now, they're missing him at the school right now.”

Crime, Law and Justice

Shows

Morning Edition

NewsPartners

Matt Sepic

Author

Charging documents alleged Hill and Cody Fohrenkam passed close to one another on a sidewalk in February 2022, possibly close enough to brush shoulders, before Fohrenkam shot.

MPR News - Charging documents alleged Hill and Cody Fohrenkam passed close to one another on a sidewalk in February 2022, possibly close enough to brush shoulders, before Fohrenkam shot.

MPR News - Fohrenkam guilty of murder in killing of Minneapolis student Deshaun Hill

TIM EVANS/MPR

Cody Fohrenkam booking photo, for Deshaun Hill killing

Fohrenkam guilty of murder in killing of Minneapolis student Deshaun Hill

Go Deeper.

Like this?