Teen to be tried as adult in 2023 mass shooting that injured 9 in Minneapolis

A second defendant is now facing criminal charges in connection with a 2023 mass shooting in Minneapolis that injured nine people, including at least four juvenile victims.

Court records show 18-year-old Demario Lee Dempsey faces nine counts of attempted first-degree murder for his alleged role in the Aug. 20, 2023, shooting at the intersection of Franklin and Chicago avenues. Dempsey was 17 at the time of the shooting, and a judge on Thursday ordered him to stand trial as an adult.

A criminal complaint alleges Dempsey and 19-year-old co-defendant Jaden Trejuan Butcher got out of a Toyota Avalon and began firing on a “large group of people” playing dice on the sidewalk.

Surveillance video shows one of the gunmen armed with a pistol and the other with a “fully automatic rifle” as they sprayed the crowd with 42 rounds, hitting at least nine people. ShotSpotter detected that 28 of those shots were fired in just 1.5 seconds.

The complaint notes that the shooters injured a grandmother who was present with her 8-year-old granddaughter.

“The granddaughter was trampled over as the victims [fled] at the time of the shooting,” the complaint states.

Investigators identified the Toyota and found it was associated with Butcher. Police later learned the shooting was “motivated by gang retaliation” and that Dempsey was involved, the complaint states. Cellphone records indicated Dempsey had texted Butcher an address, and location data showed them moving from that address toward the crime scene 10 minutes before the shooting.

After Dempsey was arrested on a separate weapons charge in November, police obtained media from his phone that showed him and Butcher together holding guns and a video of himself driving through the intersection of Franklin and Chicago while talking about it being “a fishbowl” that was “dry as hell” after the shooting, charging documents allege.

Charging documents related to the November arrest detail Dempsey’s violent criminal past, including delinquent adjudications on charges of aggravated robbery and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Dempsey remains in custody at the Hennepin County Jail. The Minneapolis police officer who submitted the affidavit on Monday recommended a high bail because Dempsey “represents an extreme danger to the public.”

Dempsey’s first court appearance is set for Tuesday.

A jury trial for Butcher — who also faces nine counts of first-degree attempted murder — is scheduled to begin in June.