Student charged with shooting

Published 10:25 pm Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A 20-year-old Troy University student was arrested Tuesday for an alleged shooting incident earlier this month.

Houston Martin, of Tallassee, has been charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle for an incident alleged to have happened at 3:30 a.m. March 5.

Troy Police Spokesman Sgt. Benny Scarbrough said the incident stems from a party held at the Pike County Fairgrounds, but a warrant was not signed on Martin until March 10.

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The suspect and several other individuals, including the victim, were reported to have had an altercation that night. As the victim and two witnesses left the scene traveling north on U.S. Highway 231, they noticed the suspect following them in a white Cadillac, according to the arrest warrant.

Martin is said to have pulled his vehicle next to the victim’s 1997 Crown Victoria, when he was seen holding a silver semi-automatic hand gun. Those in the Crown Victoria then reported hearing noises described to be like “rocks hitting their car.”

That’s when they looked and saw flames coming from Martin’s window and accelerated away.

According to the warrant, there were four bullet holes in the vehicle when they returned home. The victim’s brother later found a white Cadillac parked on Troy University’s campus, and wrote down the tag number, and when run through the system it was determined the vehicle was registered to Martin.

Martin was positively identified by the victim and one of the witnesses as the person who shot toward the car, the report reads.

He was taken into custody at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday and has been transferred to the Pike County Jail. He was held on a bond of $25,000.