Authorities say motorcycle gang and street gang members targeted Judge Steven Meyer of Lafayette, Indiana for assassination. Meyer and his wife Kim were shot at their home on January 18; both survived their injuries. Five people were arrested in connection with the attack—four in Indiana and one in Lexington, Kentucky.
Prosecutors allege the shooting was designed to stop testimony in a domestic abuse case against a member of the Phantom MC motorcycle club. Police and prosecutors announced the charges at a news conference Tuesday, describing the attack as an assault on the judicial system itself.
Police and prosecutors announced charges Tuesday against five people in connection with the January 18 shooting of Judge Steven Meyer and his wife at their Lafayette home. “This attack was more than an assault on two citizens,” Lafayette Police Chief Scott Galloway said at a news conference. “This was an assault on the rule of law itself.”
According to prosecutors, the shooting was designed to block testimony in a domestic abuse case against Thomas Moss, a member of the Detroit-based Phantom MC motorcycle club with ties to the Vice Lords street gang. The charges follow an investigation led by the Lafayette Police Department, the FBI, the Indiana State Police, and the Purdue University Police Department.
The Alleged Plot
Prosecutors say Moss faced trial on a domestic abuse charge with the victim scheduled to testify before Meyer. Prosecutors allege the Vice Lords offered the woman $10,000 not to appear as a witness. She refused. With Moss’s trial scheduled to begin January 20, prosecutors allege another Phantom MC member, Blake Smith, purchased a shotgun. On January 18, a masked man traveled to the Meyers’ home armed with that shotgun.
The masked man lured the couple to the door by claiming to look for his dog, then shot through the door and fled, according to the affidavit.
“(Meyer) was targeted,” Indiana State Police Lt. Col. Al Williamson said at Tuesday’s news conference. “They went after him for a reason.”
Evidence and Arrests
Police recovered the mask, the shooter’s clothing, and the shotgun discarded near the Meyers’ home. DNA on the mask matched Raylen Ferguson, an associate of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation from Lexington, Kentucky, according to the affidavit.
Surveillance video showed a car parked near the Meyers’ home had traveled from Kentucky toward Lafayette on January 16 and traveled toward Smith’s residence in the hour after the shooting, prosecutors said.
The five arrested face various charges. Moss, Ferguson, and Smith each face attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Amanda Milsap, whom prosecutors say offered the bribe in the domestic abuse case, faces bribery and obstruction charges. Zeneda Greer, who prosecutors allege traveled to Lafayette with Ferguson and is being held in Lexington, was charged with helping a criminal and obstruction.
Court appearances for the suspects were scheduled for Wednesday in Indiana and Kentucky.