Background: Dejuan Hemphill with his mother (GoFundMe). Inset: Jehovah Nelson (Ramsey County Sheriff”s Office).
A young Minnesota man, aged 19, has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for the fatal shooting of a 24-year-old while he walked with his cousins. This tragic incident has left the community reeling and highlights the senseless nature of gun violence.
Jehovah Nelson admitted guilt in October, acknowledging his role in the second-degree murder of Dejuan Hemphill in St. Paul. The judge handed down a 12-and-a-half-year prison sentence on Tuesday, bringing some measure of closure to the case.
The sequence of events unfolded on November 5, 2024, as detailed in a probable cause arrest affidavit. St. Paul police were conducting routine patrols near Rice Street and University Avenue just before 5 p.m. when they heard several gunshots. A man was seen fleeing the area, and officers quickly pursued him. Upon apprehension, he revealed that he had been walking with his two cousins when an unknown assailant started shooting.
Officers arrived at the scene to find Dejuan Hemphill critically injured, with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Despite the paramedics’ swift response, Hemphill’s injuries were severe, described by a doctor as among the worst she had ever encountered. He succumbed to his injuries 10 days later.
One of Hemphill’s cousins recounted to the police that they were simply walking when they were suddenly ambushed by gunfire from behind. The attempt to help Hemphill was heartbreaking and ultimately in vain.
Surveillance footage provided further insight. It showed that the cousins had been at a liquor store shortly before the attack. At the same time, Nelson’s co-defendant, Kenneth Terry, also 19, was present. Witnesses indicated that the shooting was premeditated, as Terry was reportedly upset over one of the victims communicating with the mother of his child. Terry, along with Nelson, who was disguised in a Michael Myers mask from the “Halloween” films, followed the unsuspecting trio, setting the deadly events in motion.
Video showed that Nelson entered a shooting position and fire at the back of his head.
Detectives obtained a warrant for Nelson’s Snapchat account which revealed he had been bragging about the shooting.
“Pick yo homie up go check dude on rice head tap b—,” Nelson wrote with a gunshot and explosion emojis.
Nelson also asked Terry about the murder weapon.
“Please tell me u sold it,” Nelson asked.
Police arrested Nelson and Terry in February. Terry pleaded guilty to second-degree murder without intent last month and is slated to be sentenced on Dec. 30.
