Police have arrested five people as part of a multi-state investigation into the shooting of an Indiana judge and his wife while they were at home on Sunday.
Lafayette Police said in a statement Thursday that the five were arrested following hundreds of investigative hours following the shooting of Judge Steven Meyer and his wife, Kimberly, in the city on Jan. 18.
Both victims were in a stable condition following the attack, which happened around 2:17 p.m. The judge was injured on an arm, his wife on her hip.
Raylen Ferguson, 38, from Lexington, Kentucky; Thomas Moss, 43, from Lafayette and Blake Smith, 32, from Lafayette, were all arrested on charges of attempted murder in the first degree and conspiracy to commit murder, as well as a range of other charges related to the attack.
Those three suspects were arrested on the additional charges of gang enhancement and firearm enhancement, which prosecutors can use to call for a longer prison sentence in the event of a conviction. Moss and Smith were also listed as “habitual offenders.”
Police also arrested Amanda Milsap, 45, from Lafayette, on charges of bribery and obstruction of justice, and Zenada Greer, 61, from Lexington, Kentucky, on charges of assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice.
It was not immediately clear whether any of the suspects have legal representation.
LPD said the arrests were made in collaboration between a long list of agencies across multiple states, including police in Lexington and Allentown, Pennsylvania, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Steven Meyer said in a statement issued by the Indiana Judicial Bench on Tuesday that he was grateful for the “support of friends, the community, court colleagues and law enforcement” and the medical team that treated him and his wife.
“I want the community to know that I have strong faith in our judicial system. This horrific violence will not shake my belief in the importance of peacefully resolving disputes. I remain confident we have the best judicial system in the world, and I am proud to be a part of it,” he said.
Loretta H. Rush, the chief justice of Indiana, said in a statement on Sunday that she worried “about the safety of all our judges.”
“As you work to peacefully resolve more than 1 million cases a year, you must not only feel safe, you must also be safe. Any violence against a judge or a judge’s family is completely unacceptable. As public servants, you are dedicated to the rule of law,” she said.
Steven Meyer, who was elected to the state bench in 2014, had recently said he would not seek re-election in November and planned to retire. He practiced law in the Lafayette area for 30 years and is a former president of Lafayette City Council.
