Sacramento Shooting: At least 5 people fired guns during gang-related shooting downtown, police say

At least five shooters fired guns during a gang-related gunbattle in downtown Sacramento Sunday that killed six people and injured 12 others, police said on Wednesday. “As detectives learn more about the shootings, it is increasingly clear that gang violence is at the center of this tragedy,” Sacramento police said in a release. “While we cannot at this time elaborate on the precise gang affiliation of individuals involved, gangs and gang violence are inseparable from the events that drove these shootings.”There were two groups involved in an exchange of gunfire, Sacramento Police Department spokesman Sgt. Zach Eaton said. “The identities of the shooters are still being worked through but based off of witness information, written information, as well as are the numerous videos that we have received, we believe at this point there are five shooters,” he said. Eaton said that nearly 200 videos have been submitted through the QR code that the police department has created. “This tragedy downtown is a very public example of what families in many of our neighborhoods know too well,” Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said in a statement. “The suffering inflicted by gang violence does not limit itself to gang members. It spills over to claim and shatter innocent lives and harm our entire community.”What we know about the suspectsTwo brothers have been arrested so far in connection with the shooting.The first suspect arrested was 26-year-old Dandrae Martin, who was taken into custody on Monday. Dandrae Martin is being held in the Sacramento County Jail without bail and made a brief initial court appearance on Tuesday. He was arrested on assault with a firearm and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm charges, but the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office only read the firearm charge at Dandrae’s court appearance. Even though the district attorney only presented the one charge, police said Dandrae was arrested for the shooting, believing he fired a gun during the shooting.The second suspect was identified as 27-year-old Smiley Martin, who was taken into custody Tuesday on charges that include possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun. He had posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun hours before gunfire erupted, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.Smiley Martin sustained serious injuries from the shooting and is currently in a nearby hospital for treatment. He will be booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail once he is released from the hospital.Investigators believe the brothers possessed stolen guns and are working to review financial documents, call records and social media messages to determine how and when they procured weapons, the official said.Both suspects arrested had criminal historyKCRA 3 Investigates learned Dandrae Martin has also had previous run-ins with the law.Dandrae has been wanted in Riverside County since 2015. Jail records show he has an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanor domestic violence charge.According to court documents, Dandrae “inflicted bodily injury resulting in a traumatic condition” to his spouse.Dandrae pleaded guilty to the charge in 2014 and was sentenced to 30 days of custody and 36 months of probation.The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to NBC News that Dandrae later violated two terms of probation: the community service requirement, and the 52-week class requirement.A $5,000 bench warrant was issued by the court in 2015.KCRA 3 Investigates also learned Dandrae spent time in an Arizona prison. He was released in 2020 after serving just over a year-and-a-half for violating probation in separate felony convictions for an attempt to commit aggravated assault in 2016, and a conviction on a marijuana charge in 2018.Meanwhile, Smiley Martin has had run-ins with the law in Sacramento County since at least 2013.In a letter last year to the Board of Parole Hearings, the DA’s office called Smiley’s criminal conduct “violent and lengthy.” They wrote that he committed several felony violations and had “little regard for human life and the law.”The letter states that six months after his 18th birthday in 2013, Smiley was arrested and later sentenced after he was found with an assault weapon and large-capacity magazines. Later that year, he was also sentenced to two years in prison after a string of robberies, according to the DA’s Office.Most recently, he was released on parole from state prison in February after serving about half of a 10-year sentence for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, prosecutors have said. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation claim Smiley’s February release was not an early release, saying he was awarded pre- and post-sentencing credits.He might have been released sooner, but a Parole Board rejected his bid for early release in May after prosecutors said the 2017 felony assault along with convictions for possessing an assault weapon and thefts posed “a significant, unreasonable risk of safety to the community.” In a letter to the Board of Parole Hearings from the DA’s Office on April 29, 2021 it says, “If he is released early, he will continue to break the law.” | RELATED | Read the letter from the Sacramento County DA calling for Smiley Martin not to be releasedMeanwhile, detectives investigating Sunday’s shooting have located hundreds of items of evidence, including more than 100 expanded shell casings and a stolen handgun that was found to have “been converted to a weapon capable of automatic gunfire,” police said. Third person arrested in connection with the shooting on a gun chargeDaviyonne Dawson, 31, was also arrested as part of the Sacramento Police Department’s investigation, but officers said his charges are not directly related to the shooting.Dawson was seen carrying a gun “in the immediate aftermath” of the shooting downtown, according to police. They don’t believe the gun they recovered was used in the mass shooting.Records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show that Dawson has a criminal past. He was booked into a CDCR facility in January 2019 from Placer County. He was to serve a six-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon, but he received credits during his incarceration, allowing him to be released to Sacramento County probation in August 2020.The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office charged Dawson with unlawful possession of a firearm, according to court documents. The document also shows that Dawson was convicted in 2016 for street terrorism in connection with gang activity.Dawson appeared in court Wednesday. His next court date will be April 26, the same date brothers Smiley and Dandrae Martin are also due to appear in court.Related Coverage What we know about the 6 people killed in downtown Sacramento mass shootingCA leaders call for investments in crime prevention, social safety net following Sacramento mass shooting’Afraid and unsafe’: Downtown Sacramento businesses react to mass shootingSacramento shooting: 2nd man arrested on gun charge, as his brother appears in courtSacramento community continues to grapple with mass shooting impactsDistrict attorney’s office to offer support services for those impacted by Sacramento shootingSacramento Shooting: Mayor Steinberg on city’s response, gun violence ‘sickness’ and safety downtown–The Associated Press contributed to this story.