Federal prosecution proceeds in crash that killed 5

The federal case is moving forward against a Brooklyn Park man accused of killing five young women in a high speed crash last summer.

A grand jury has found probable cause for charges that the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office filed previously against Derrick John Thompson for possession of a firearm as a felon, possession of fentanyl, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

Thompson, 28, was allegedly intoxicated and driving a rented SUV at 95 miles an hour on Interstate 35W when he exited at Lake Street and T-boned a Honda Civic.

Thompson has been jailed on $1 million bond since the June 16 crash in Minneapolis.

Inside the sedan were Sabiriin Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Salma Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sahra Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; Sagal Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis; and Siham Odhowa, 19, of Minneapolis. The five had just left the Karmel Mall after getting henna tattoos in preparation for a friend’s wedding.

Thompson, who’s the son of former DFL State Representative John Thompson, is also charged in Hennepin County with vehicular homicide.

Thompson served three years of an eight-year sentence in California for permanently disabling a woman in a 2020 hit and run.

Thompson, who was seated in a wheelchair, made a brief appearance in Hennepin County Court Nov. 21, where a judge set a Dec. 20 hearing date in the case.