Man pleads guilty to attempted murder charges connected to 2023 Minneapolis shooting

A man who was ordered to stand trial as an adult earlier this year for his alleged involvement in a mass shooting in Minneapolis back in 2023 has entered guilty pleas to multiple charges.

According to court records, 18-year-old Demario Lee Dempsey – who was initially charged as a teen with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder for the Aug. 20, 2023, shooting – entered guilty pleas to three counts of attempted intentional second-degree murder on Tuesday during a hearing.

Dempsey previously had a jury trial set to begin on June 23 but will now be sentenced on June 30. His co-defendant, 19-year-old Jaden Trejaun Butcher, will also be sentenced that day after pleading guilty to six counts of attempted and premeditated first-degree murder late last month.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the charges stem from a shooting on the evening of Aug. 20 in which a group of people were playing dice on the sidewalk near the intersection of East Franklin and Chicago Avenues when Butcher and Dempsey fired at least 42 rounds into the crowd.

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At least nine people were hit as the two men fired at least 28 rounds in a second-and-a-half, indicating the use of an automatic weapon. Investigators later recovered seven 9 mm casings and 35 .223 caliber shell casings from the scene, the criminal complaint said.

Police said six of the victims were teenage boys and another was a grandmother who was there with her 8-year-old granddaughter and was “visibly trampled” in the aftermath of the shooting, the complaint adds.

In the days and weeks after the shooting, officers saw the vehicle used in the shooting and tried to stop it, but the vehicle fled at high speeds.

Cellphone data from Butcher’s phone shows his phone was at the location of the shooting during the incident and in the vehicle when it later fled.