Sacramento mass shooting suspect released from hospital, booked into jail

Smiley Martin, one of the five suspected gunmen in the April 3 gang shootout in downtown Sacramento that killed six and wounded 12, has been booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and faces his first court appearance Friday.

Online jail booking records show Martin, 27, who had been hospitalized since being wounded in the shooting, was booked at 12:22 p.m. on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a machine gun.

He is being held without bail, and prosecutors are expected to argue at a hearing in Sacramento Superior Court that he poses too much of a threat to be released on bail.

Court papers say Martin is seen on video from the shooting at 10th and K streets “holding a handgun with an extended magazine in his left hand beside his leg,” then moments later exchanging gunfire with DeVazia Turner, who was killed during the shootout.

Prosecutors say Martin fired 28 rounds from the 30-round magazine for the Glock 19 handgun with laser sight that had been converted to fire as an automatic. Court documents say after firing, he and his brother, Dandrae, 26, ran toward the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and threw the gun away near 1029 K St.

Dandrae Martin is currently in jail facing charges of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Police have said both brothers are among the five people suspected of firing weapons that night. Police have identified a third suspect, Mtula Payton, 27, as having fired a weapon but say he has not been found to take into custody.

Police used a variety of video clips to build their case against the brothers, including a social media post Smiley Martin made hours before the shootout in which he waved a handgun in front of the camera and said he could not go into nightclubs downtown because he did not have ID.

“As the defendant told his social media audience, he had no intention of going to nightclubs or bars that evening,” the documents say. “Instead, based on his lack of identification, his clothing, his prior gang-related statements, and his decision to come to downtown Sacramento with a loaded, illegal full-automatic machine gun equipped with an illegal high-capacity magazine, there is clear and convincing evidence that defendant Smiley Martin intended to engage in armed criminal action with an illegal firearm.

“Inevitably, when a conflict presented itself at the intersection of 10th Street and K Street, the defendant did not leave the scene. Instead, with a full-automatic Glock 19 drawn out in his left hand, the defendant stayed in front of the Sharif Jewelers, waiting for a confrontation with Mtula Payton, Devazia Turner, Sergio Harris and the other men they were with.”

Turner and Harris were among the six people killed that night.

This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 1:36 PM.