By Crime Watch MN
MINNEAPOLIS – One of dozens of Minneapolis gang members charged in federal court over the last year in a violent crime crackdown by the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been sentenced to prison for illegal possession of a machine gun.
Marquez Demar Hill-Turnipseed, 21, a member of the north Minneapolis “Lows” subset of criminal gangs has been sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger last week.
Luger’s office began a campaign last year to crack down on gangs through the federal racketeering and organized crime statutes (RICO) following over three years of unprecedented violent crime increases in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities that followed the pandemic lockdowns and the George Floyd riots.
Hill-Turnipseed was among a group of gang members charged late last summer related to illegal possession of firearms and drug trafficking.
According to Luger’s office, in April 2023, law enforcement began investigating members of the Minneapolis Lows, a street gang that engages in drug trafficking, firearm possession, and acts of violence.
On June 29, 2023, law enforcement conducted a search of a residence belonging to Hill-Turnipseed that turned up a loaded .45 Glock semi-automatic pistol with an attached auto-sear, also known as a switch, which is a conversion device that turns a handgun into a fully-automatic machine gun, Luger’s office said. Law enforcement also recovered from the residence a loaded ghost gun, which is a gun produced without a serial number.
At the time of his federal indictment last year, Crime Watch Minneapolis reported that Hill-Turnipseed had just been convicted a year prior, in September 2022, in Hennepin County District Court on a charge of possessing a machine gun. However, Hill-Turnipseed was only sentenced to one day of time already served in jail and was placed on probation by Judge Tamara G. Garcia.
Within two months of his conviction, a warrant had been issued for Hill-Turnipseed’s arrest on a probation violation. He was wanted on that warrant at the time of his arrest in the federal sweep.
Offenders in federal prison must serve a minimum of 85% of their sentence incarcerated, as opposed to state sentencing which only requires offenders to serve two-thirds or less incarcerated.
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
This article appeared at Alpha News and was reprinted with permission.
