The three men suspects of the downtown Sacramento mass shooting have been charged with murder.
Sacramento prosecutors have filed the first murder charges in the April 3 gang shootout downtown, charging brothers Smiley Martin and Dandrae Martin and third suspect Mtula Payton each with three counts following the deaths of six people and 12 wounded near 10th and K streets. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester announced the charges Tuesday. “This was a gun battle between two rival gangs,” Schubert said. “The evidence shows that the rival gang members armed themselves with weapons.”
The Martin brothers, currently held in the Sacramento County Main Jail on weapons charges, and Payton, still being sought by police, are each charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57, who authorities reportedly believe were innocent bystanders cut down in a hail of bullets between two groups of active shooters. Schubert’s office filed the charges along with special circumstances that the suspects allegedly committed multiple murders, a filing that could lead to a death penalty prosecution if Schubert’s office decides to pursue that for the case.