In the early hours of August 9, 2023, the life of 34-year-old Stevi Rae Palacio, a female resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was tragically cut short. Shortly after midnight, gunshots rang out near the intersection of Thomas and Oak Park avenues North. When police officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Palacio on the sidewalk, suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound to her back.
Emergency responders provided immediate aid and transported her to a local hospital, but her injuries proved fatal, and she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The investigation into Palacio's death quickly revealed the chilling details of her final moments. A resident's doorbell camera captured footage of a cargo van pulling up alongside Palacio as she stood outside a residence. A person in the front passenger seat of the van fired a shot, wounding her. As she attempted to flee, the same individual fired seven more times, with one of the bullets striking her in the back. The following day, investigators located the cargo van in the underground garage of an apartment complex where one of the suspects lived. A key piece of evidence was the van's shattered passenger-side window, indicating that the shots had been fired from inside the vehicle.
The investigation led to the identification of two suspects: Tremaine Michael Bucholz and Derrick Lamond Johnson Sr. Fingerprints belonging to both men were found inside the van. Bucholz was arrested and, while he admitted to being in the van at the time of the shooting, he denied being the one who fired the weapon. His co-defendant, Johnson, was later apprehended in Houston, Texas.
In a significant development, Tremaine Michael Bucholz was found guilty of first-degree murder in connection with Stevi Rae Palacio's death. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Derrick Lamond Johnson Sr. has also been charged in the case and is awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in the fatal drive-by shooting. While justice is being pursued in the legal system, the motive behind the senseless act of violence that ended Stevi Rae Palacio's life has not been publicly disclosed.
