Zyere Porter sentenced to 30 years for fatal Boom Island Park shooting

Zyere Jakay Porter, 24, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a deadly gang-related shooting at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. Porter pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder and two counts of aiding and abetting a drive-by shooting.

The incident occurred on June 1, 2025, during a birthday party. According to criminal complaints, Porter and others arrived in a Dodge Challenger to target a gang rival. After an initial shooting, surveillance footage showed a passenger, Marquez Demar Hill-Turnipseed, firing into a crowd from the vehicle. Hill-Turnipseed was sentenced to 40 years in prison last week.

The violence resulted in the death of 23-year-old Stageina Katraya Shapryia Whiting, who was struck by gunfire while attempting to leave the scene. At least five other people were shot, and a sixth person was injured during the chaos. Investigators recovered approximately 130 shell casings from at least nine different weapons, leading former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara to describe the scene as akin to a “war zone.”