Police have arrested five people as part of a multi-state investigation into the shooting of an Indiana judge and his wife while they were at home on Sunday.
Lafayette Police said in a statement Thursday that the five were arrested following an extensive investigation into the shooting of Judge Steven Meyer and his wife, Kimberly, in the city on Jan. 18.
Both victims were in a stable condition following the attack, which happened around 2:17 p.m. The judge was injured on his arm, his wife on her hip.
Raylen Ferguson, 38, from Lexington, Kentucky; Thomas Moss, 43, from Lafayette; and Blake Smith, 32, also from Lafayette, were all arrested on charges of attempted murder — a level one felony in Indiana — and conspiracy to commit murder, among other charges related to the attack.
Those three suspects were arrested on additional charges of gang enhancement and firearm enhancement, which prosecutors can use to call for a longer prison sentence in the event of a conviction. Moss and Smith were also listed as “habitual offenders.”
Police also arrested Amanda Milsap, 45, from Lafayette, on charges of bribery and obstruction of justice, and Zenada Greer, 61, from Lexington, Kentucky, on charges of assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice.
While police did not say what the motive behind the attack may have been, one of the suspects charged with attempted murder had been set to go before the judge in a separate trial that was scheduled to start days after the shooting.
Court records show that Moss was charged in 2024 with a range of felonies, including domestic battery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. He had also been charged with shooting a firearm into a building. His trial had been postponed several times and was supposed to start on Jan. 20.
A receptionist who answered the phone for Benjamin Jaffe, an Indianapolis attorney listed for Moss, said Jaffe’s office had no comment on the case.
It was not immediately clear whether the other suspects in the judge’s shooting had legal representation.
LPD said the arrests were made in collaboration between a long list of agencies across multiple states, including police in Lexington and Allentown, Pennsylvania, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Steven Meyer said in a statement issued by the Indiana Judicial Branch on Tuesday that he was grateful for the “support from friends, the community, court colleagues, and law enforcement” and the medical team that treated him and his wife.
“I want the community to know that I have strong faith in our judicial system. This horrific violence will not shake my belief in the importance of peacefully resolving disputes. I remain confident we have the best judicial system in the world, and I am proud to be a part of it,” he said.
Loretta H. Rush, the chief justice of Indiana, said in a statement on Sunday that she worried “about the safety of all our judges.”
“As you work to peacefully resolve more than 1 million cases a year, you must not only feel safe, you must also be safe. Any violence against a judge or a judge’s family is completely unacceptable. As public servants, you are dedicated to the rule of law,” she said.
Steven Meyer, who was elected to the state bench in 2014, had recently said he would not seek re-election in November and planned to retire. He practiced law in the Lafayette area for 30 years and is a former president of Lafayette City Council.
Lafayette is located about an hour outside of Indianapolis.
CORRECTION (Jan. 23, 2026, 11:00 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the name of the body that issued a statement from Steven Meyer. It is the Indiana Judicial Branch, not the Indiana Judicial Bench. The story has also been updated to reflect that the charges of attempted murder are a level-one felony, rather than a charge in the first degree.
