Members of a motorcycle club and a street gang worked together to kill an Indiana judge in hopes of derailing a domestic abuse trial, prosecutors alleged Friday, hours after police announced they had arrested five people in connection with the investigation.
Steven Meyer, a Tippecanoe County Superior Court judge, and his wife, Kimberly Meyer, were injured Sunday afternoon in the attack at their Lafayette home. Steven Meyer suffered an injury to his arm and Kimberly Meyer an injury to her hip, according to authorities.
Meyer was scheduled to preside over Thomas Gregory Moss' trial in a domestic abuse case set to begin Tuesday. Court records show Moss was charged in 2024 with beating his ex-girlfriend and firing a gun in her home.
Probable cause affidavits unsealed Friday describe Moss as a high-ranking member of Phantom MC, a Detroit-based motorcycle club with ties to the Vice Lords street gang.
In the records, investigators said a Lafayette woman named Amanda Milsap approached Moss' ex-girlfriend several weeks prior to Sunday's attack and told her that Moss and the Vice Lords wanted to pay her $10,000 not to testify against him. Moss' ex-girlfriend refused.
In the court documents, police said Raylen Ferguson, a member of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation, a gang within the Vice Lords, and a woman named Zenada Greer traveled to Lafayette from Lexington, Kentucky, several days before the shooting.
Ferguson traveled to the Meyers' home on Jan. 16 and knocked on the door saying he had a food delivery, but left after Steven Meyer said they had the wrong house, the records said.
He returned to the home on Sunday afternoon, police said. The home's surveillance video shows he was wearing a mask and carrying a shotgun. Investigators later determined that another Phantom MC member, Blake Smith, had purchased the gun in early January, according to the records.
Ferguson knocked on the Meyers' door and said he was looking for his dog. When Steven Meyer told him that he didn't have his dog, Ferguson opened fire through the door, according to the records.
Police later found the shotgun and Ferguson's mask and clothes discarded near the Meyers' home. Analysts matched DNA found on the mask to Ferguson, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police announced late Thursday that Ferguson, Moss, Smith, Milsap and Greer all had been arrested.
Moss, 43, Ferguson, 38, and Smith, 32, each face attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, battery and intimidation counts. Milsap, 45, faces bribery and obstruction counts. Greer, 61, was charged with helping a criminal and obstruction.
Moss' attorney in the domestic abuse case, Ben Jaffee, did not immediately return a message left at his office Friday. Court records did not list attorneys for the other four people facing charges in connection with the judge's shooting.
Steven Meyer issued a statement thanking police and the community. He said he and his wife won't make any further public statements about the case because it's important to allow the judicial process to move forward.
Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush also released a statement saying a special judge appointment is expected Monday.
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