Authorities accuse motorcycle and street gang members of targeting Indiana judge for assassination

Members of a motorcycle club and a street gang clearly targeted an Indiana judge for assassination, police said Tuesday, days after officers arrested five people in connection with the attack.

Police and prosecutors at a news conference praised what they characterized as a relentless effort to track down who opened fire on Tippecanoe County Superior Court Judge Steven Meyer and his wife, Kim, at their home in Lafayette on Jan. 18. Both Meyer and his wife suffered gunshot wounds but survived.

The Lafayette Police Department, the FBI, the Indiana State Police and the Purdue University Police Department launched a search for the shooter that went on for days before apprehending five people in synchronized arrests Thursday evening, including four in Indiana and one in Lexington, Kentucky. Court appearances for the suspects were set for Wednesday in Indiana and Kentucky.

“This attack was more than an assault on two citizens,” LaFayette Police Chief Scott Galloway said. “This was an assault on the rule of law itself.”

Prosecutors allege that the attack was designed to derail 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.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the Vice Lords offered the victim in the case $10,000 not to testify against Moss but she refused.

With Moss' trial set to begin on Jan. 20 in front of Meyer, another Phantom MC member, Blake Smith, purchased a shotgun. A masked man traveled to the Meyers' home armed with that shotgun on Jan. 18. He lured the couple to the door by saying he was looking for his dog, shot them through the door and fled.

“(Meyer) was targeted,” Indiana State Police Lt. Col. Al Williamson said at Tuesday's news conference. “They went after him for a reason.”

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 that was parked near the Meyers' home had traveled from Kentucky toward Lafayette on Jan. 16 and traveled toward Smith's residence in the hour after the shootings, according to the affidavit.

Moss, Ferguson and Smith each face multiple charges, including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Amanda Milsap, whom prosecutors allege offered the bribe in the domestic abuse case, faces bribery and obstruction counts. Zeneda Greer, a woman Ferguson lives with, has been charged with helping a criminal and obstruction. Prosecutors have accused her of traveling to Lafayette with Ferguson.

Milsap's attorney, Earl McCoy, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Online court records did not list attorneys for Moss, Ferguson or Blake. Jail records indicate Greer is being held in Lexington. Online court records in that state did not list an attorney for her.