Oakdale man sentenced to 37 years in prison for Woodbury grad party shootout that left 14-year-old dead

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
Updated ·5 min read

A judge handed down a 37-year prison sentence Friday to an Oakdale man for his part in a shootout that killed 14-year-old Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl at a June 2021 graduation party in Woodbury.

Following a nine-day trial in September, a Washington County jury found 20-year-old Xavier Le’Drew Hudson guilty of all 10 charged offenses in the shootout that killed Hobbs-Ekdahl as he rode in the back seat of a car on June 5, 2021. The Maplewood teen had just finished his freshman year at Tartan High School in Oakdale.

Washington County Judge Gregory Galler gave Hudson three consecutive prison sentences: 31 years and two months for aiding and abetting second-degree murder and a pair of three-year sentences for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Hudson was given credit for 692 days he’s served since his arrest.

The investigation showed that Hudson, who was 17 at the time, fired 19 shots, although not the one that struck Hobbs-Ekdahl. Enrique Lucio Davila fired the fatal shot that night, investigators say.

Davila has pleaded not guilty to one count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. A jury trial for Davila, 26, of St. Paul, is scheduled to begin April 1. He remains jailed in lieu of $900,000 bail.

The prosecution had asked the judge for a 38½-year prison term, while Hudson’s attorney, Boone Leach, sought a downward departure to 13½-years on the murder count and concurrent presumptive sentences on the assault counts.

Trisha Ekdahl, Demaris’ mother, said Friday in her victim impact statement that Hudson “knew what he was doing ” when he and others went to the graduation party armed with semiautomatic handguns.

“If they were not trying to kill anyone, 40 rounds wouldn’t ring out at a car of five innocent kids,” she said.

Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said in a statement the sentence sends a “clear message that senseless violence is simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We are grateful that this long case has culminated in justice for Demaris, his family, and our community.”

40 bullets rang out

According to court documents, Hudson, Davila and Jaden Lavan Townsend confronted Hobbs-Ekdahl, his brother Davion Hobbs-Ekdahl and others near the party in the 6100 block of Edgewood Avenue around 10:30 p.m.

Davion Hobbs-Ekdahl told police that Davila stuck a gun in his ribs and warned him, “Don’t try anything,” court documents state. Townsend then slapped him in the face.

The brothers and their friends then left the party. Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl called his stepfather, Keith Dawson. He met his stepsons and their friends in Maplewood and encouraged them to return to the party with him so the perpetrators “would stop messing with them,” according to the criminal complaint against him.

Dawson drove his Chevrolet Tahoe, while the others followed closely behind in a Kia Forte. When they arrived, Davila, Townsend and Hudson were standing near an SUV parked on the street. Dawson fired six or seven shots toward the group, he later admitted to authorities.

Hudson and Davila returned fire with a barrage of bullets from their semiautomatic handguns that were equipped with 30-round clips. The bullet fired by Davila traveled through the Kia’s rear license plate, then the trunk and the back seat and struck Hobbs-Ekdahl in the back, went through both of his lungs and stopped in his shoulder.

Dawson moved the boy into his vehicle. Police arrived, spotted Dawson’s SUV and pursued him to Regions Hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead about an hour later. A medical examiner determined the cause of death to be “exsanguination” — blood loss — due to the gunshot wound.

Investigators later found 40 bullet casings at the scene, as well as bullet holes in several homes and vehicles at the site of the party.

Attorney Joseph Vaccaro, who represented Hudson during his trial, had argued that Dawson was the aggressor and that Hudson and Davila immediately returned fire in self-defense.

Assistant Washington County Attorney Scott Haldeman, meanwhile, told jurors that Hudson’s case was not what Dawson did. “We know what he did,” he said in his closing argument. “This is a case about what Xavier Hudson and Enrique Davila did back.”

Dawson, 37, was sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2023 after pleading guilty to drive-by shooting. Two second-degree assault charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Townsend, 22, of St. Paul, was sentenced to three years in prison in June 2022 after pleading guilty to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

A mother’s grief

Demaris mother told the courtroom Friday they lost “an amazing son, brother, friend, nephew, grandson” that night.

“Demaris was such a bright child with a big smile on his face everywhere he went,” Ekdahl said, adding that her son “got along with everyone.”

Demaris had goals that “he didn’t get to achieve because of others’ actions that night,” she said.

She mentioned how Hudson picked up attempted murder charges in Ramsey County after being released from jail on bond on the murder charge, adding “this has all proven what type of person he is. He is out to hurt people.”

According to the criminal complaint in that case, Hudson fired a handgun equipped with a drum magazine at an SUV with people inside near Burr Street and Case Avenue in St. Paul on March 27, 2022. The complaint notes that Hudson is an associate of the BadSide Mafia/Wopp Gang. Hudson reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in August 2022; he is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 12.

Ekdahl asked Judge Galler to give Hudson the maximum sentence in the killing of her son, saying “he has proven he is a danger to society and can hurt others, and I would hate for any other parent to have to go through this.”

Related Articles