Suspect in deadly Minneapolis crash charged with homicide, federal weapons and drug counts

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A suspect in a crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis has been charged with 10 state counts of criminal vehicular homicide as well as federal firearms and drug charges. The federal charges against 27-year-old Derrick John Thompson could result in a penalty of life in prison. Thompson, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, had been freed from a California prison just a few months earlier. Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators recovered a handgun from the wreckage of his rented SUV, along with fentanyl, MDMA and cocaine. Thousands of mourners from the Somali American community attended the young women’s funeral Monday at a mosque in Bloomington, where the five had been members.