Oakdale man found guilty for role in fatal Woodbury graduation party shooting
MINNEAPOLIS -- A jury found a 20-year-old man guilty of all charges related to a 2021 shooting at a Woodbury graduation party that killed a 14-year-old boy.
Xavier Le'Drew Hudson, of Oakdale, was convicted on 10 felony charges, including aiding and abetting murder in the second degree, in the shootout that killed Demaris Ekdahl on June 5, 2021.
According to charges, Hudson was part of a group that confronted Ekdahl and others with guns at a graduation party on the 6100 block of Edgewood Road around 10:30 p.m.
Ekdahl and the four others met with his stepfather, Keith Dawson, in Maplewood who encouraged them to return to the party and confront the group.
Dawson and the group drove back to the party separately. Dawson allegedly shot at the other group's SUV to scare them, police said. That group returned fire, hitting Ekdahl, who was riding in a car behind Dawson's SUV.
Dawson pled guilty to his involvement in the shooting in January and was sentenced to seven years in jail.
Enrique Davila and Jaden Townsend were also charged in connection to the incident.
Davila's trial is scheduled to start Dec. 11.
Townsend pled guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree assault in June 2022 and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence.
A sentencing date has yet to be determined for Hudson.
