Path of a Bullet

Homicide detectives got a break from an unexpected source in the Martine Perry case. Gang members handed the suspected drive-by killers to them on a platter.

Two of Martine's gang friends saw the shooting and tailed the suspects' car to a building 20 blocks away. They watched the occupants of the car go into an apartment and kept an eye on the door until police arrived.

The suspects were captured within 90 minutes of the crime.

“The case is relatively simple when you get the suspects handed to you,” said Long Beach homicide Detective William MacLyman.

“In most cases, you have 'whowho cases' -- who is the victim and who did it,” he said.

All too often, witnesses claim they saw nothing.

Such cooperation cut the investigative process in this case by countless hours, but there was still much to do before the suspects could be charged with murder. And there's still a lot more to do before they will be brought to trial.

The investigative process began just minutes after the Sept. 7 shooting.

MacLyman and his partner, Detective Craig Remine, were the on-call team that week -- off duty but available on a moment's notice. They'd already been called out on a stabbing death earlier that week, and when his home phone rang at 9:15 that Saturday night, MacLyman knew it was time to go to work.

The two detectives were on the scene just 50 minutes after the 16-year-old Martine was shot. Patrol officers had already cordoned the area where blood was drying in wide splotches on the sidewalk and were interviewing residents, searching for possible witnesses.

The detectives spent the next half-hour working with officers there.

Together they searched for evidence, and photographed and sketched the scene. The sketch, showing the distance between the shooter and the victim, and the location of the evidence, such as bullet casings, would help to recreate the crime scene at the trial.

The detectives were collecting the evidence when they were called to the 900 block of Freeman Avenue, where the suspects were.

Another group of officers had converged on Freeman within 10 minutes of the shooting. Some watched the apartment while others kept onlookers at bay.

They'd been there about 40 minutes when a woman came out of the apartment to dump trash. Officers grabbed her and put her in the back seat of a patrol car for safekeeping. When another woman came out to check on her about 20 minutes later, they grabbed the second woman and put her in another car.

MacLyman said the women were detained for their own safety. “You wouldn't want them to return to an apartment where a hostage situation could take place,” he said.

About 10:15 p.m. police shouted, “Come out with your hands up!”

A female and five males emerged.

MacLyman and Remine arrived in time to see the surrender.

Searches by police turned up a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun in a bedroom closet, and a 9 mm assault pistol with a 30-round clip of ammo in the trunk of the Buick.

After staging a “field show-up,” an impromptu lineup to see if the witnesses could identify any of the people from the apartment, they took all eight to the downtown police station for questioning.

The detectives interviewed them, one by one, until 6 a.m., then let the three females and one of the males go.

MacLyman said witness statements, information from the interviews “and other information,” helped build a case against the four suspects – three men, ages 21 through 25, and a 16-year-old boy. The adults were booked into the city jail on suspicion of murder.

According to Remine, the adults are documented as gang members in a statewide police computer. The boy, who is from Vallejo, is believed to be a gang member, although he is not documented.

Since juveniles can be held at the station only six hours, he was shipped off to Los Padrinos juvenile hall in Downey in the early morning hours for booking. When they finished with the adults, the detectives began the process of getting charges filed against the boy. Cases against minors generally are prosecuted in Juvenile Court, apart from adult defendants.

The detectives went off-duty about 10:30 Sunday morning, nearly 14 hours after Martine Perry was shot.

On Monday, Sept. 9, they dictated separate reports on interviews with all of those who had been questioned, including witnesses, to create a package, or “murder book,” on each of the suspects.

The report on the juvenile's interview was very short since he invoked his right to remain silent.

“He wouldn't give us the time of day,” Remine said.

The next day, the same day an autopsy was performed on Martine Perry's body, a deputy district attorney reviewed the package and charged each of the three adult suspects with murder. The juvenile was charged about the same time.

“When you get a case filed with the DA, you've done the bulk of the investigation, but there are always additional follow-ups and additional investigation to be done,” MacLyman said.

“After your case is filed, you are gathering the loose ends to present your case at trial. You're usually working on it right up to the moment of the trial.”

Loose ends in the Perry case include the two guns, shell casings and two spent bullets picked up from the street. They've all been sent to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's ballistics lab for testing.

MacLyman said they're in no hurry to get the ballistics report back. “It is not needed until the trial, which probably is a year away.”