Investigators are still searching for Mtula Payton who was charged Tuesday along with two other alleged members of a rival gang with the murder of three women. Photo courtesy of Sacramento Police Department/
Release
May 4 (UPI) -- Authorities in California have charged three people accused of being gang members with murder in connection to a mass shooting that erupted early last month in Sacramento that left six people dead and 12 others wounded.
Anne Marie Schubert, the district attorney for Sacramento, told reporters during a press conference Tuesday that Smiley Martin, 27, and his brother Dandrae Martin, 26, as well as Mtula Payton, 27, of a rival gang have each been charged with the murder of Johntaya Alexander, Melinda Davis and Yamile Martinez, three women who were killed in crossfire early April 3.
The fighting erupted at about 2 a.m. in the downtown area of 10th and K Street between two gangs, resulting in the three women dead along with Sergio Harris, Devazia Turner and Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi.
Schubert said the Martins and Payton were not charged with the three other deaths as they have not been designated as victims but participants.
"Law essentially says that when individuals are involved in a gun battle and they kill innocent bystanders all participants in that gun battle are responsible for the death of those innocent bystanders," she said. "It doesn't matter whose bullet killed who. What matters is this was a gun battle between rival gang members who came armed to this scene in downtown Sacrament and innocent bystanders died.
"The Martin brothers and Mtula Payton are charged with all of the deaths of those innocent bystanders."
Schubert said all three face allegations of special circumstances for multiple murder, which means they could be subjected to capital punishment if convicted though California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in 2019.
The Martin brothers are currently in police custody having been arrested separately following the shooting with Smiley Martin located near the scene suffering from injuries related to the gun battle.
Investigators are searching for Payton, who police identified as a suspect in the case the shooting on April 12.
"We currently have a team of detectives doing everything they can do to locate Mr. Payton," Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said during the press conference.
Authorities said there were five shooters during the incident and that more than 100 shell cases in two different calibers were recovered from the scene. Between 70 and 80 people were at the location when the shooting erupted, they said.
