SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two brothers, Dandrae and Smiley Martin, appeared in court Tuesday as suspects in the deadly K Street shootout that happened in early April. However, lawyers for the Martin brothers said they still have not seen all the evidence from police, and the hearing was continued to May 27.
The shootout along Sacramento's K Street happened on April 3 and left six people dead and 12 injured.
Dandrae Martin, 26, has been identified by police as a shooter. He was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon but prosecutors have only charged him with a gun possession offense.
"He was arrested for being involved in the shooting as well as being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm," Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said.
Dandrae Martin is being held at the Sacramento County jail with no bail.
Smiley Martin previously appeared in Sacramento Superior Court on April 22 on charges of possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm by a felon. He is also being held without bail.
In a 13-page motion filed with the court, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert depicted Smiley Martin as a dangerous, unrepentant gang member. Prosecutors pointed to Martin's prior convictions, which include coercing a woman into prostitution and beating her with a belt, leaving a welt on her face.
State law says Martin is not allowed to carry a gun. But just two months after his release from prison, prosecutors say Martin posted a video to Instagram where he and others posed with guns, boasted about shooting rival gang members and talked about going to downtown Sacramento to stand outside of nightclubs.
Authorities say he went downtown later that night with a Glock 19 handgun equipped with an extended 30-round magazine, a tactical laser sight and a full-automatic selector switch — a device that transformed the weapon into an illegal machine gun.
WHO HAS BEEN CONNECTED TO THE SHOOTING?
Sacramento police say there were five shooters and have identified three of them.
Dandrae Martin, 26, has been identified by police as a shooter. He was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon but prosecutors have only charged him with a gun possession offense.
Smiley Martin, 27, was seriously injured in the shooting and arrested in the hospital on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun.
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Both brothers have felony criminal records that include convictions for violent attacks on women they encouraged to work as prostitutes, according to prosecutors and court records.
Smiley Martin was released from prison under supervision of probation officers in February after serving less than half his 10-year sentence because of voter-approved changes to state law that lessened the punishment for some felonies and provided a chance for earlier release.
A chance at freedom even sooner was rejected in May 2021 after prosecutors wrote to the Parole Board citing Martin's lengthy rap sheet and said he “clearly has little regard for human life and the law.”
On April 12th, Sacramento police said evidence gathered so far indicates that Mtula Payton, 27, was among the suspected shooters. Payton is being sought on multiple felony warrants, including for gun charges and domestic violence.
A 31-year-old man was arrested near the scene of the shootout with a gun that police do not think was fired during the melee.
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE SHOOTING?
Police have yet to reveal what led to the shootout, but a 15-minute video posted live on Facebook earlier in the night by Smiley Martin showed him brandishing a large handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
The video posted about four hours before the shooting was believed to be shot in a parking lot in north Sacramento.
Smiley and Dandrae Martin were in the video, along with Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, one of the men who died in the shooting, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Investigators believe some of the men involved in the shooting were members of the Crips street gang, the official said. At least one of the victims had been linked by law enforcement to the Bloods gang, according to the official.
In the video, Smiley Martin repeatedly waved a handgun at the camera, saying at one point he was going to a club but didn’t have identification, the official said. He also spoke of an affiliation with a street gang and Hoye-Lucchesi could be heard making veiled threats against someone else, according to the official.
At other points in the video, it appeared the handgun was tucked in Martin’s waistband, the official said.
The video also showed local police officers drive nearby and call out to the group to ask if they had seen a child nearby, the official said. The men responded they hadn’t before the officer drove off.
Sacramento police spokesman Chad Lewis said officers were aware of video that included three of the people involved in the shooting. He said the video showed people waving guns and, at some point, a police cruiser rolled up.
WHAT TYPE OF GUNS WERE FIRED?
Police have yet to reveal what type of weapons were used in the shooting, but they have said more than 100 rounds were fired, which is based on the number of shell casings recovered.
Witnesses provided more than 200 videos and photos and tips that have helped investigators, police said. The explosion of gunfire heard on videos posted online had the ring of semi-automatic or automatic weapons.
A stolen handgun found at the scene had been converted to a weapon capable of automatic gunfire. Police were trying to determine if it was used in the shootout.
Smiley Martin faces a charge of possessing a machine gun, though police have said nothing about whether that weapon was used in the shooting.
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said police were trying to figure out if the gun Martin was seen sporting in the video was used in the attack.
Police also seized a handgun during a search of three homes after the shooting.
WHO ARE THE VICTIMS?
They were three fathers raising their young children, a sister driving downtown to pick up her older sibling from a night out, a landscaper saving her pay for concert tickets and a woman living on the streets in search of housing.
The Sacramento County coroner identified them as: Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21; Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and De’vazia Turner, 29.
Documents filed April 15 by Sacramento County District Attorney’s office show that Hoye-Lucchesi, Harris, and Turner were affiliated with gangs.
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