New Brighton man gets prison sentence after fatal road rage shooting
Prosecutors wanted longer sentence for road rage gunman
Dhaha Hassan was sentenced to 13.5 years for shooting and killing Randy Burris during a road rage incident in Minneapolis last year. Hennepin County attorneys wanted a longer sentence for Hassan, saying Burris was vulnerable due to prior injuries. FOX 9's Paul Blume has more.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Hennepin County District Court Judge Amber Brennan sentenced Dhaha Hassan to 13.5 years in prison on Thursday for his role in a deadly roadside confrontation along Minneapolis’ West River Parkway last year.
What happened
Dhaha Hassan, of New Brighton, shot and killed Randy Burris, 34, during the nighttime encounter.
He claimed self-defense, arguing the shooting was justified, but a jury did not buy his story – ultimately convicting him on multiple counts including second-degree unintentional murder.
The deadly confrontation unfolded late at night on Nov. 18, 2023, near West River Parkway and Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis.
According to court filings and witness testimony, Hassan had been smoking pot and was driving alone in his car, the wrong way down a narrow one-way stretch of parkway.
Burris was in a vehicle with a couple of other people, including his brother, heading in the proper direction. Hassan backed up as far as he thought he could go and stopped. That is when the altercation unfolded with a war of words escalating at Hassan’s vehicle.
Hassan claimed Burris reached into his car and physically assaulted him – that’s when he opened fire. Hassan immediately called 911 to report the shooting and remained on scene until police arrived.
Police body camera footage captured a dying Burris identifying Hassan as the shooter.
Sentencing
At his sentencing hearing, Hassan apologized, "I never wanted to kill anyone, ever in my life. I never wanted to hurt anyone, ever, in my life. This is really hard for me. And I am also wanting to say, if it wasn't clear before, that I am sorry to the families."
The Hennepin County Attorney’s office sought a harsher sentence of nearly 19 years, arguing the unarmed Burris was particularly vulnerable as he was wearing a neck brace with a couple of cracked vertebrae from a prior injury when he was killed.
"He could have reversed [his car]. He could have left. He could have locked the door, rolled the window up, called the police. He had a cell phone if he truly felt any sort of threat. He did not do that," Prosecutor Tara Ferguson Lopez told Judge Brennan at sentencing. "Instead, without any sort of warning, any sort of, ‘I have this gun, back up, or I will use it.’ He pulls out that gun, he aims it at Randy Burris and from very close range within a couple of feet away, he shoots Randy not just once. He shoots multiple times, striking Randy at least four times from very close range."
Hassan’s defense attorney, Jessica Rugani, asked for a much more lenient sentence of time served and probation, arguing that despite the jury’s findings, Burris was the aggressor.
After less than six hours of deliberations, the jury found Hassan guilty on a lesser count of unintentional second-degree murder as well as illegal possession of a ghost gun – the murder weapon was a homemade polymer firearm that did not contain a serial number.
The trial was unique as it was the first trial under new court rules allowing for cameras in the courtroom.
Ultimately, Judge Brennan’s sentence fell within state guidelines for second-degree unintentional murder. It is expected Hassan will spend the next eight years behind bars before being released to serve the remainder of his sentence on some form of supervised release.