Police video: Arrests of 3 charged in judge’s attempted murder came in synchronized operation
Police briefing Tuesday offers a look at arrests, as initial hearings loom for five suspects charged in Jan. 18 shooting of Judge Steve Meyer and his, wife, Kim at their Lafayette home.
Three men accused of attempted murder in the Jan. 18 shooting of Judge Steve Meyer and Kim Meyer at their Lafayette home were arrested in three different places at the same time in simultaneous, synchronized operation four days after the attack, Lafayette Police Chief Scott Galloway said Tuesday.
Video from police vehicles, drones and body-worn cameras played Tuesday morning during a briefing on the investigation showed Raylen Ferguson being arrested during a traffic stop on Indiana 43, north of Lafayette near Brookston; Thomas Moss being told to walk backward with his hands up from his front door on the east side of Lafayette to awaiting police; and a battering ram breaking through a door of a rural Dayton residence in eastern Tippecanoe County to find Blake Smith.
“This was a lion-hearted effort – the investigation didn’t stop,” Galloway, flanked by local, state and federal law enforcement, said during the briefing in city council chambers at Lafayette City Hall.
“For Judge Meyer and his wife, this is personal,” Galloway said in his first public statements since the investigation started. “They are not just public officials. They are pillars of this community who have dedicated decades of their life to public service. They are kind, generous people who embody the values of Lafayette. While we are heartened that Judge Meyer and his wife are on the road to recovery, we recognize that this attack was more than an assault on two citizens. To me and every law enforcement leader on the stage and the people they serve, this was an assault on the rule of law itself.”
The briefing followed arrests of five people on Thursday and charges unsealed Friday. Initial hearings are set for Wednesday in Logansport, after the Indiana Supreme Court appointed Cass Superior 2 Judge Lisa Swaim to oversee the cases. Those include:
Ferguson, 38, of Lexington, Kentucky, who is accused of going in disguise to the Meyers’ front door that Sunday afternoon. Investigators say he knocked, telling Steve Meyer that he was looking for a lost dog before firing a shotgun through the closed front door, hitting the judge in the arm and Kim Meyer in the hip.
Raylen Ferguson (Image from video, via LPD) Moss, 43, of Lafayette, who is a leader in a local outlaw motorcycle club and had been facing at trial set to start in Meyer’s court two days after the shooting. In that case, Moss had been charged with nine felony counts filed in June 2024, including domestic battery, criminal recklessness, intimidation and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
Smith, 32, of Dayton, who was charged with attempted murder and other charges for his role two weeks earlier in buying the shotgun used in the crime.
Two others face lesser charges for their roles in the plot:
Amanda Milsap, 45, Lafayette, was being held on suspicion of bribery and obstruction of justice, accused of relaying an offer of $10,000 from Moss and the Vice Lord gang to a witness in Moss’ trial if they wouldn’t testify.
Zenada Greer, 61, Lexington, Kentucky, on suspicion of assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice. Investigators said Greer’s car was used in various stages before, during and after the shootings.
Investigators did not take questions during the Tuesday morning briefing. And there were no additional hints about which pieces of the evidence revealed in court documents proved pivotal in the plot. LPD Sgt. Matt Santerre said the investigation was still considered active.
In court documents filed with the charges, investigators outlined how the same man seen in surveillance camera footage day of the shooting had come to the Meyers’ Lafayette home two nights earlier, knocking late at night and claiming to have a food delivery.
That night, according to court documents, Steve Meyer never opened the door, instead telling the man that he had the wrong address and that they hadn’t ordered food. The man left their home in the Saw Mill Run subdivision, shown in video footage from doorbell camera carrying a bag from a local restaurant chain off Indiana 26 and a two-liter bottle of soda and walking with a distinct gait.
Investigators say the same man returned to the Meyers’ home at 2:14 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, knocking with a similar pattern they’d heard two nights earlier. This time, according to court documents, the man was wearing a black and gray hooded flannel, a scarf, sunglasses and a white silicone mask, telling the judge through the door that he was looking for a dog. When Steve Meyer said he didn’t have the dog, the man shot twice through the door. Video footage shows a man with a similar gait leaving the scene.
In court documents, investigators say the fake food delivery on Jan. 16, DNA from a discarded mask and other evidence helped lead to Ferguson and the others.
For more on the alleged plot and charges
Galloway said the LPD investigation included help from local police agencies, the FBI, Indiana State Police analysts and the prosecutor’s offices’ major crimes unit, among others.
Tim O’Malley, special agent in charge for the FBI, said Tuesday that the case was Lafayette’s.
“We brought to bear resources in the area of technical assets – our evidence response team, our crime scene investigators, our surveillance teams,” O’Malley said. “We helped coordinate some of the activity that crossed over state lines, both up north into Michigan and down south into Louisville, into Kentucky. Above all, I just want to say that these arrests represent what law enforcement is like here in the state of Indiana. It’s about collaboration on all levels.”
Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski, who retired as a captain with LPD, thanked everyone involved.
“This is one of those incidents that really strike at the heart of a community,” Roswarski said. “I can tell you with a deep sense of pride that this community has really, really responded. We didn’t take a step back, and neither did the Meyers, neither did our law enforcement agencies, our first responders or medical personnel, our judicial system or our prosecutor’s office. … (Because of) the dedication of many of those public servants and the courage and strength shown by Kim and Steve Meyer, that act of violence did not prevail.”
Here’s the full briefing Tuesday
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