Man with lengthy record arrested on suspicion of murder in crash that killed 5 young women; suspect is son of expelled lawmaker

Authorities have charged and jailed a man in connection with a high-speed crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis Friday, KTTC reported.

Derrick John Thompson, 27, of Brooklyn Park, was booked Monday into the Hennepin County Jail on suspicion of murder, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported, citing a spokesperson from Minneapolis police.

Thompson blew past a Minnesota State Patrol trooper in an SUV just past 10 p.m. He was driving at 40 miles above the 55 mph speed limit on Interstate 35 West at the time, Howie Padilla, a Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman, told the Star Tribune.

After exiting the highway and running a red light, Thompson broadsided the car carrying the five young women, the outlet also reported. He then reportedly fled on foot to a nearby Taco Bell and was later arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The women killed in the horrific crash were Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Siham Adan Odhowa, 19, of Minneapolis; Sagal Burhaan Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis; Sahra Liban Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; and Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, 20, St. Louis Park, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.

"These are pearls of our community. They leave a big void," Khalid Omar, director of Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, told the Star Tribune. The young women attended services and volunteered for many years at the Center.

Thompson's record includes a string of driving-related offenses in Minnesota as well as a felony convection in California involving a hit-and-run, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Derrick Thompson is the son of former Minnesota state Rep. John Thompson, Fox News Digital reported.

The elder Thompson, a Black Lives Matter activist, was expelled from the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus September 2021 over "credible reports of abuse and misconduct," according to a joint statement from Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Horman and Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, as reported by KMSP.

Alpha News reporter Liz Collin shared video of the moment of impact.

The elder Thompson participated in a BLM protest outside the home Collin shared with Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll in August 2020, WCCO News reported. The elder Thompson later apologized for his "inflammatory rhetoric."

Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman released a statement calling release of a video of the crash caught on a traffic camera "deeply concerning and unacceptable." In the statement, Osman says the women were "murdered."

Osman's statement did not specify to which video he was referring. Video and screenshots of the crash and the moments before the crash have been shared by the Daily Mail.

A fundraiser to support the grieving families has raised $402,616 of its $500,000 goal as of Tuesday morning.

Watch video from WCCO below covering the aftermath of a crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!