An argument on a Minneapolis street corner turned deadly on the evening of September 3, 2024, ending the life of DeJaun Marquise Michael Hall. He was a 24-year-old Black man. The incident happened around 7:00 p.m. in the Stevens Square neighborhood, near the intersection of East 19th Street and 1st Avenue South. Hall was reportedly with a group of people when an altercation began between him and another man. The dispute quickly escalated, and the other man shot Hall multiple times.
Minneapolis Police Department officers arrived to find Hall gravely wounded. Despite their life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and ruled it a homicide.
The killing was the fourth in Minneapolis in just one week, a trend that Police Chief Brian O'Hara publicly noted with concern. Investigators immediately began working the case, and their efforts were aided by surveillance footage that captured the entire encounter. According to the criminal complaint, the video showed the argument between Hall and the suspect. The footage then captured the suspect pulling an item from a fanny pack, prompting Hall to run. The suspect allegedly chased Hall around a parked car and shot him in the back. As Hall lay on the ground with his hands raised, the video reportedly showed the suspect walking over to him and shooting him twice more.
Two days later, police arrested a suspect at a hotel. He was identified as 38-year-old William Howard Sanders IV, who is also known as Jason Jerrell Herron IV. A search of a car connected to Sanders uncovered a fanny pack like the one seen in the video, which contained a loaded 9mm handgun. During questioning, Sanders gave investigators shifting accounts of the shooting. He admitted to shooting Hall but claimed he had smoked PCP beforehand and had a hazy memory of the event. He later stated that he acted in self-defense because Hall was threatening him and his family. He also told police he was “suspicious” of Hall for "wearing a hooded sweatshirt on a nice day."
William Howard Sanders IV was charged with one count of second-degree murder and booked into the Hennepin County Jail. The case against him was pending as of September 2024.
