Police expert testifies to K Street shooters’ alleged deep ties to Sacramento gangs
The shooters in the deadly K Street massacre moved within the complex orbit of criminal gangs and their offshoots that make up Sacramento’s underworld, an expert on the capital city’s gang culture testified Monday.
The weeks-long murder trial of Mtula Payton and Dandrae Martin is expected to conclude this week.
Sacramento County prosecutors on Monday pressed their theory that Payton and Martin were involved in a shootout with rival gang members on the downtown street corner rather than defending themselves from a spontaneous volley of gunfire as nightclubs closed April 3, 2022.
Prosecutors questioned former Sacramento police officer Zach Eaton, now a Lincoln police captain, who spent 16 years tracking, investigating and studying Sacramento’s complex gang networks — including alliances and rivalries, offshoots and subgroups, language and symbols — as a Sacramento police detective.
Eaton testified that the men were involved in rival gangs — G-Mobb in south Sacramento, Garden Blocc Crips in North Sacramento and others that have battled over the decades — and crossed paths with deadly consequences at 10th and K streets.
Downtown blocks, including K Street, were neutral territory in Sacramento gangs’ ongoing shooting war, Eaton testified. K Street, in particular, was a hotspot where rival gangs would send scouts to gather intelligence on their foes.
Scouts scoured the streets in the hours before the chaos erupted — what Sergio Harris’ cousin, Ike Harris, called a “temperature check” — Eaton said.
“They want to know how many people are with that group, what they look like,” Eaton said.
They included the Harrises, scouting for the Martin brothers and watching for rivals before the shooting started, Eaton testified, citing the K Street security videos played for jurors throughout the trial.
Six people died, including three who opened fire: Sergio Harris, Joshua Hoye-Lucchessi and Davazia Turner. Three bystanders — Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57, also were killed in the seconds after the shooting started, unable to escape the barrage.
Another 13 were wounded, including Payton and Martin’s brother, Smiley. Smiley Martin later died at the Sacramento County Main Jail in 2024 while awaiting trial in the shootings.
Payton attorney Reed Kingsbury argued earlier in the trial that videos from the scene showed Payton did not kill Martinez, Alexander or Davis while he exchanged gunfire.
Testimony resumed Monday afternoon and was expected to continue through the week before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman.
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