FORT WAYNE – When police caught up with Dontay D. Martin after a brief foot chase early Sunday, he had a bleeding cut on his hand.
Martin’s bloody hand eventually connected him to a 9 mm Glock handgun, with an extended-capacity magazine, found in the 200 block of Sixth Street – a gun believed to have been used to shoot up an ambulance and injure four people.
Martin, 23, of the 4100 block of Hessen Cassel, has been preliminarily charged with four counts of attempted murder, two counts of criminal recklessness, one count of battery with a deadly weapon, one count of carrying a handgun without a license with a prior conviction, and criminal gang activity.
Filed Friday, the charges are identical to formal charges filed Thursday against Traneilous L. “Neil” Jackson.
Jackson, who turned 24 last Saturday, and Martin are now identified as the two shooters who riddled a Three Rivers Ambulance Authority ambulance with bullets, as well as a trailing car carrying the family of the man receiving treatment inside.
The violent episode began with a stabbing inside a nightclub inside the Piere’s complex at 5629 St. Joe Road early Sunday. When paramedics arrived, they found Jermaine Loyall in serious condition, put him in the ambulance and headed to the hospital.
As they left, they were followed by a black Chevrolet Impala containing two of his sisters – Domonic Loyall and Latasha Loyall – and a friend, Lashanda Conwell.
A Crown Victoria driven by Alfonso Chappell, 27, with Jackson in the front passenger seat and Martin in the rear passenger seat came up on the Impala and the ambulance from behind, court records said. Another man was in the rear driver’s side seat.
At 3:15 a.m., dispatchers received a call from the ambulance requesting emergency assistance, saying they were being shot at. About the same time, one of the women in the Impala called police, saying they had been shot at and she and her friend had been injured.
Both the firefighter driving the ambulance and the women in the car were able to provide police with a description of the Crown Victoria.
Court documents state that both the ambulance and the Impala were hit by 16 to 20 bullets.
A few minutes later, Allen County police officers both on and off duty were able to chase the car and finally stop it in downtown Fort Wayne. Martin and the other man in the car jumped out and ran but were caught by police. The handgun connected to Martin was found in the area of the chase, according to court documents.
Jackson and Chappell were arrested inside the car, where a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun was found on the driver’s side floorboard. The gun matched a picture of a gun stored on Jackson’s cellphone.
During interviews with police, Chappell said Jackson wanted to shoot up the ambulance and the Impala to take revenge for the stabbing of his brother “Mel” Jackson, court documents said.
Paramedic Jeromy Yadon was struck with bullet fragments, glass and shrapnel, suffering injuries to his left arm and fragments. The two other emergency workers in the ambulance were uninjured, according to court documents.
Latasha Loyall suffered 10 gunshot wounds in various places on her body, and Domonic Loyall was shot once in the forearm, according to court documents.
Chappell told police he owned a 9 mm Glock handgun with a high-capacity magazine and it was in the vehicle. The last time he saw the weapon, it was in Martin’s hands as he fired at the vehicles, according to court documents.
When police collected the gun, they found a bloodstain on it. When they questioned Martin at the police department after his initial arrest, he had an “active, bleeding cut” on his hand, according to court documents.
No one has yet been charged for stabbing Loyall, and the case remains under investigation.
