On a summer evening in Waterloo, Iowa, on July 17, 2016, 21-year-old Otavious Brown, a Black / African American male, was fatally shot. The incident also left two other individuals, Dewon Campbell and Aundrey Roberts Jr., wounded. The shooting occurred outside a residence on Logan Avenue when occupants of a passing SUV opened fire on a group of people.
Three individuals were subsequently charged in connection with the drive-by shooting: Shavondes Martin, Doncorrion Spates, and Armand
Rollins Jr. Prosecutors alleged that the three were inside the vehicle when the shots were fired. The driver of the vehicle, Jacques Williamson, later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. The trials for the three main defendants yielded different outcomes. In February 2018, a jury found 17-year-old Doncorrion Spates guilty of murder, attempted murder, and intimidation with a weapon.
Conversely, the same jury acquitted 22-year-old Shavondes Martin of the same charges. After further deliberation, the jury also found 18-year-old Armand Rollins Jr. not guilty of murder and attempted murder.
The story took another tragic turn two years later. In what prosecutors described as a revenge killing, Shavondes Martin, the man acquitted in Brown's death, was found shot to death in a Waterloo alley on May 31, 2018. He had been shot nine times with two different guns. An investigation revealed that Martin had been lured to the location by his own cousin, Danaesha Martin, at the behest of her ex-boyfriend, Raymond Birden Jr., who was Otavious Brown's brother. Prosecutors stated that Birden and Martin had been exchanging taunts online following Martin's acquittal. In May 2021, Raymond Birden Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Shavondes Martin and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Danaesha Martin also faced charges for her role in the killing and entered into a plea agreement for lesser charges.
