Six charged with attempted murder after recent gang-related shootings in Des Moines

Police have arrested and charged two teenagers they believe to be affiliated with gangs and part of a string of Des Moines shootings. 

Mannuel Corry Smith, 17,, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, and Antonio Luis Alexander, 17, has been charged with one count of attempted murder, according to a news release from the Des Moines Police Department. 

Des Moines police responded at 12:55 p.m. Wednesday to multiple calls about a shooting in the 1500 block of 10th Street, police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said in the release. No injuries were reported, he said.

A group of juveniles in the area was immediately detained, Parizek said in the release, and Alexander and Smith were arrested. 

In a criminal complaint, investigators said Smith and Alexander are known gang members associated with the Pop Out Gang, a subset of the C-Block criminal street gang. 

Six people with gang affiliations, including Smith and Alexander, have been charged with attempted murder over the last two weeks.

On May 6, Alexander ambushed a rival gang member around 3:25 p.m. in the 1400 block of Eighth Street, according to a criminal complaint. He snuck between two homes and fired a handgun at a victim on the front porch of a home, grazing the victim's right shoulder, according to a criminal complaint. 

Three hours later he was involved in a retaliatory shooting five blocks away, according to court records. 

Last week, Fabrece Bower Turner, 22, was charged with attempted murder after a May 6 shooting near 13th and Clark streets.

Turner, a known member of the OTB (Only the Brothers) set of the Heavy Hittas criminal street gang, was in the rear seat of a Chevrolet Impala as it approached Smith and another unidentified person, according to court records. The vehicle was driven by Shannon Travon Pope, 17, and abruptly pulled over. Turner then fired at Smith, according to court records. 

Braden Shafer, 18, also fired shots at Smith from the car, according to court records. Smith returned fire, but never notified law enforcement that he was fired upon, according to the criminal complaint. 

Iowa law states that a person must notify law enforcement to be protected by Iowa's self-defense laws. 

"While the defendant had been fired at prior to returning fire the defendant never notified law enforcement of this, which voids the self-defense laws," the complaint states. 

Austin James Mallory, 18, and Raekwon Patton, 21, were charged with attempted murder last week after a shooting around 5 p.m. May 10 near the intersection of 30th and Clark Streets. 

Police said at the time Mallory, Patton, Shafer and another passenger were riding in a car in the 3000 block of Clark Street, according to court documents. All the occupants of the vehicle are known Heavy Hittas gang members except the driver, according to the complaint. 

Schafer was shot in the head, hospitalized and underwent surgery after the shooting. He is still hospitalized, not yet in a condition to be read his Miranda Rights and speak with detectives about the May 6, shooting, Parizek said. 

Around 8:51 p.m. Marie Wilkerson, 27, was driving Turner and another person in a Chevrolet Impala that fired upon a vehicle in the intersection of East 17th Street and Cleveland Avenue in retaliation for an earlier shooting, according to court records. 

Wilkerson was charged with two counts of intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

Five illegally possessed firearms were also recovered during the investigation, according to a news release. Parizek declined to comment on the source of the firearms because the investigation is ongoing. 

Police also arrested four other people who they say had gang connections on drug and weapons charges.

Nine people have died in six homicides so far in 2020, Parizek said. Through this point last year, five people were killed in five homicides, he said. 

Ako Abdul-Samad, a Democratic state representative and founder of community support group Creative Visions, said the community must find more ways to offer structure and support to young people who sometimes turn to gangs.

"We have to provide them a safe place to live," Abdul-Samad said. "Those are some of the things that people have got to have because right now we're in competition with people trying to survive."

Philip Joens covers breaking news for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens. 

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