SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors have filed murder charges in a mass shooting that rocked California’s capital city a month ago.
District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said Tuesday that Smiley Martin, Dandrae Martin and Mtula Payton have been charged with murder in the slayings. All three are eligible for death penalty if but that decision has not been made yet.
The gang feud erupted in gunfire before dawn April 3 as patrons of bars and nightclubs emptied out onto the streets in downtown Sacramento. Six people were killed in the bloodshed, including one man who was an alleged shooter.
A dozen others were wounded by bullets — including two other alleged gunmen. Police say at least five people fired bullets in the shooting.
Court documents have described Smiley Martin as a dangerous, unrepentant gang member with a “life-time commitment to violence.” Police say his brother, Dandrae Martin, also fired a gun during the melee.
Police have only identified four of the suspected gunmen: the Martin brothers, Mtula Payton and Devazia Turner.
Turner, 29, died in the shooting. The Martin brothers are both in jail. Police don’t know where Payton, 27, is. The Martin brothers are scheduled to return to court May 27, records show.
Lawyers for the brothers have yet to publicly comment on the case.
Besides Turner, the other people who died in the shooting are Sergio Harris, Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, Johntaya Alexander, Yamile Martinez-Andrade and Melinda Davis.
Authorities say Harris and Hoye-Lucchesi were also involved in the dispute with the Martins, Turner and Payton.
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Dazio reported from Los Angeles.
Kathleen Ronayne And Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press
