Page 8 Thursday, April 7, 2022
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First suspect linked to Sacramento mass shooting appears in court on gun charge
Courtesy of Tribune News Service
Police work the scene on the corner of 9th and K streets after a shooting that occurred in the early morning hours on April 3 in Sacramento.
Sam Stanton The Sacramento Bee
The public defender’s office declared an overload, and the case was assigned for now to lawyer Linda Parisi, who said there would be a decision later on which defense attorney would represent Martin SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The first suspect and other defendants. charged in connection with the mass shooting in After court, Parisi described her client as “very Sacramento early Sunday made a brief court appear- somber, very somber.” ance Tuesday on a single count of illegal possession “You saw in court, this is very serious,” she of a firearm, with no charges tying him directly to the said. shootout that killed six and wounded 12. He will appear in court again April 26. Dandrae Martin of Blythe was arrested Monday Martin is one of two suspects arrested in the and is being held in the Sacramento County Jail on wake of Sunday night’s shooting. a felony charge that he was found in possession of a His older brother, Smiley Allen Martin, 27, was firearm despite a 2017 domestic violence conviction wounded during the gunfight and was arrested in a in Phoenix that prohibits him from having access to Sacramento-area hospital early Tuesday on charges of guns. being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm Court files say Martin, 26, had been “duly and and possession of a machine gun. legally convicted of a felony, to wit, the crime of AgThe machine gun charge stems from Sacragravated Assault — DV Impede Breathing” in Mari- mento police’s discovery of a stolen handgun at the copa County, Arizona. scene near 10th and K streets that had been altered so Sacramento police earlier had said he was also it was capable of firing as an automatic weapon, a law being held for assault with a firearm, but that was not enforcement source said. included in the criminal complaint filed by prosecuSmiley Martin also has a case pending in Sactors. ramento Superior Court charging him with a felony He appeared in a cage in a jailhouse courtroom count of impersonating someone else, and has a and spoke only once to confirm his name to Superior lengthy criminal history that included a 10-year senCourt Commissioner Ken Brody. tence handed down in 2018 for domestic violence and “Yeah,” Martin said, when asked if that was his aggravated assault causing great bodily injury, a conname. viction that prevents him from possessing a firearm.
That case led Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office to file a letter with the parole board last April strenuously opposing an early release for Martin. Despite that, Martin was out of custody and in Sacramento Saturday night where he posted a Facebook Live video hours before the shooting showing himself brandishing what appears to be a handgun. The video has since been deleted. Authorities have said they are looking for multiple shooters who may have been involved and the investigation is continuing. After the shooting unfolded, police say they arrested Daviyonne Dawson, 31, at the scene on suspicion of possessing a firearm despite being prohibited from having one. Dawson on Tuesday did not face any criminal charges “directly related” to Sunday’s melee, police said, and detectives do not believe the gun recovered during his arrest was used in the shooting. But detectives continued their investigation to identify additional suspects. Dawson has since been released from the Sacramento County Main Jail after posting a $500,000 bail bond. Police said detectives identified Dawson as a man who was spotted carrying a gun in the “immediate aftermath of the shooting.” news.ed@ocolly.com