Loved ones of the five young women Derrick Thompson killed in a 2023 car crash spoke of their never-ending pain and grief at his sentencing Thursday.
They called Thompson, 29, “evil” and “inhumane.” They said the crash was not an accident, but a result of a series of choices Thompson made that night. Through sobs and tears, they explained how their families and the entire community have been forever changed.
“This was destruction, this was selfishness, this was evil, and the pain is permanent. The damage cannot be undone,” said Marian Farah, a community leader who worked at Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center, where the Somali American women worshipped.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Carolina Lamas granted Hennepin County prosecutors’ request and sentenced Thompson to a 704-month prison term, which amounts to 58.6 years. In Minnesota, people serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison before becoming eligible to serve the last third on supervised release outside of prison.
Thompson’s attorney, Tyler Bliss, asked the judge for a term between 22 to 28 years.
Thompson looked at each speaker who gave a victim impact statement, but remained emotionless. When given an opportunity to address the court before Lamas handed down the sentence, he turned to the families and apologized, admitted his guilt and asked them for forgiveness. He also asked Lamas to show him leniency.
“I’m sorry,” he said as several family members leaned forward in their seats and held their heads in their hands. “I have made a terrible mistake.”
Jurors convicted Thompson on June 6 of five counts of third-degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide. Thompson was driving a rented Cadillac Escalade SUV on June 16, 2023, when a Minnesota State Patrol trooper detected him driving about 100 miles-an-hour on Interstate 35W in south Minneapolis. The trooper began to follow Thompson, who exited the interstate, sped through a red light and T-boned a Honda Civic carrying the five women.
Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sagal Hersi, 19; Siham Odhowa, 19; and Sabiriin Ali, 17 were killed instantly in the crash that prosecutors described as an “explosion.” The five friends and relatives were preparing to attend a wedding the next day. Some had just had henna applied, others were putting finishing touches on their outfits.
Fadumo Tingle, Sahra Gesaade’s mother, said Thompson rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors in the state case, and instead made the families sit through two traumatic trials for the state and federal charges he faced. (Thompson was charged and eventually convicted on federal charges for a gun and drugs found in his SUV.) Video footage of the crash and images of the mangled Honda Civic were shown repeatedly throughout the state trial; the federal trial did not address the crash itself.
“We lost our five daughters, but he took us through more pain,” Fadumo said in court during her victim impact statement. “That is like a nightmare.”
Yusra Ali, the women’s close friend, said in her victim impact statement that she got married this past weekend, and felt her friends’ absence on what was supposed to be a happy day.
“We had always dreamed of going to each other’s weddings and growing old together,” she said, “but because of Derrick Thompson, we will never have that.”
The women’s family members pleaded with Lamas to give Thompson a lengthy sentence. They pointed to how, after he was detained by police at the crash scene, he asked how long the investigation would take because he had Friday night plans.
“They were my family, they were my friends, they were the ones who made me laugh, who supported me, who filled my life with happiness. And now because of that coward, my family is shattered and forever broken,” said Sundus Ali, Sabiriin Ali’s sister.
After victim impact statements concluded, Thompson addressed the court and spoke publicly about the case for the first time.
He appeared to read off a written statement, and said he was young, ignorant and selfish, but that he has learned from his actions.
“Please have mercy on me,” Thompson said to Lamas. “Please don’t give up on me.”
Prosecutors requested that Thompson receive consecutive sentences for every third-degree murder conviction.
“An entire community continues to mourn their loss,” said a sentencing memorandum prosecutors filed Monday. “The way to accomplish a meaningful sentence for each victim is through consecutive sentences so that [Thompson] experiences a separate sentence for each of the victims he killed.”
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey said in court Thursday that nothing can bring back the women and the bright futures they had ahead of them. The young women were college students and high school graduates who were devoted volunteers at their mosque.
“This isn’t justice, it’s not possible,” she said of how the women were deprived of their futures and careers.
Lamas said in court that consecutive sentences were appropriate.
Bliss filed his own sentencing memorandum asking for about half as much time as prosecutors sought.
“These are not insignificant numbers and do not minimize the criminality of the conduct,” Bliss wrote in his memorandum.
The prosecutor’s memorandum cited a presentence investigation report in which a probation officer recommended that Thompson receive a sentence of more than 68 years. The probation officer wrote that while Thompson admitted that he was driving the Escalade, he continued to refer to the crash as an “accident” and denied that he was fleeing law enforcement.
“Characterizing this horrific offense as an ‘‘accident’’ [sic] implies that this was an event that happened by chance,” the probation officer wrote, according to the memorandum. “Instead this was a series of bad decisions that culminated in a tragic and avoidable fatal event.”
Prosecutors wrote in their memorandum that Thompson gave “no thought” to the women after the collision, and fled the scene.
The women’s relatives packed the courtroom each day of Thompson’s trial in late May and early June. After finding Thompson guilty, jurors also found that there were aggravating factors to the crime, which allow prosecutors to request a longer sentence. The factors included Thompson’s felony conviction in California for severely injuring a pedestrian in a hit-and-run crash, the speed in the Minneapolis case, and his failure to render aid to the Minneapolis victims.
Thompson has also been convicted of fleeing a police officer, and has a history of speeding, violating traffic laws and driving without a valid license. He was convicted last year on federal charges for having drugs and a gun with him at the time of the Minneapolis crash. He is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on Sept. 25.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement that Thompson’s actions were “inexcusable.”
After the sentencing, Sundus Ali, Sabiriin Ali’s sister, thanked community members for supporting the families over the past two years.
“They were loved, they were cared for, and we will not let their names be forgotten,” she said of the five women.
Fadumo, Sahra Gesaade’s mother, said she thought the sentence was fair, and is grateful Thompson will be behind bars for many years.
“So happy,” she said. “At least I can sleep much better than before.”
