The city is now on pace for 43 homicides this year, which would be the highest yearly total since the turn of the century. Dayton police have said drug- and robbery-related homicides are up, more than doubling from the combined six killings in 2015.
Dayton has seen five homicide victims in four incidents between Nov. 26 and Dec. 3. Police have identified suspects in all of them and said drugs may play a role in homicides on Norman Avenue, Victor Avenue, Catalpa Drive and at the Roosters on North Main Street.
“In a significant number of these cases,” Dayton police Lt. Col. Matt Carper said, “the violent acts were committed by an acquaintance or as a result of living a high-risk lifestyle.”
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Martin, 23, was arrested late Saturday night. On Monday, the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office approved four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, two counts of aggravated robbery, one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of trafficking in drugs. All the counts have a three-year firearm specification.
“Everything we’ve learned so far, it appears this is the result of a drug exchange that went bad,” Dayton police Lt. Andrew Booher said Monday. “They were supposed to exchange drugs inside the vehicle. There was an argument and then our suspect shot both the driver and the passenger, exited the vehicle and then got in his car and drove off.”
Martin has a mostly minor criminal history, with traffic offenses involving driving under suspension and no operator’s license.
Montgomery died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Booher did not provide an update on the driver who was injured and able to drive to a friend’s house and that friend drove the car to Good Samaritan Hospital. The surviving victim was then transported to Miami Valley Hospital.
“It’s the information we have from the community that allows us to go after these people and solve these crimes,” Booher said, saying that detectives worked leads and got tips Friday night to identify Martin. “We were able to get information on who the suspect might be,” Booher said. “We were able to vet that information and we were able to make an arrest.”
Booher said road crews, armed with a vehicle and suspect description, pulled over Martin and arrested him without incident. Booher said marijuana was found and tests will determine if other drugs were present.
Area police say drug transactions can take place anywhere.
“Our drug trade has kind of changed over the years, where a lot of people were selling from homes, apartment buildings, a lot of them now are meeting through social media, through cell phones,” Booher said. “They’re just meeting at random places, usually a public place so there’s other people around.”
Dayton had 29 homicides in 2015 and 27 each in 2014, 2013 and 2012 with 36 in 2011 and 35 in 2010. The 40 homicides in 2016 don’t include three shootings ruled as justifiable.
“The homicides have really gone across the spectrum in terms of who was involved and the circumstances in which they are involved,” Dayton police Chief Richard Biehl said earlier this year. “So there’s no common theme emerging out of this spike in homicides.”
Booher said there was no information that the shooting at Roosters was related to any other homicides. Police say anyone with information about a crime can call all Crime Stoppers at (937) 222-STOP.
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