SACRAMENTO – After more than two years of empty streets and fading trade, the capital of California city seemed to be becoming back to its pre-pandemic state this weekend. Thousands turned out for concert at the Golden 1 Center featuring Tyler, the Creator, and crowds filled the nearby bars, overflowing into the spring night.
At the explosion of violence with echoes across the country, but that cheerful mood was shattered early Sunday. with barrier of a shootout as revelers exited nightclubs. At least six people were killed and at least 12 wounded in the most massive shooting in Sacramento history, authorities said.
A massive shooting that apparently spanned two square blocks area of downtown Sacramento near the Capitol building came shortly after 2 a.m. when the clubs closed. Police say they are investigating an altercation that took place place in advance.
However, the chief of Police Officer Cathy Lester – veteran of in force who was sworn in office just two weeks ago, promising to do gun violence prioritized – said it was not clear what led to the violence or if it was related to the video being circulated on social media of fight on sidewalk. She said that several shooters were involved and that the police had at least recovered. one firearms, and stolen pistol.
IN news conference on On Sunday she said that when the officers on patrol nearby responded to the scene, they found big crowd and at least half-dozen people shot”in a truly tragic situation.” Other victims of firearms themselves went to the hospital or were taken there.
Chief Lester asked public contact the department with Any information about shooting. She said it’s not clear how many people opened fire and what not one It was in guarded.
Video shared with local KCRA-TV showed a crowd of people Run for cover how the bullets fired from what sounded like semi-automatic weapons began to crackle around them. The witnesses told street was chaotic.
Two cyclists who were driving to the city center when the shooting happened, they said that just were walking past the clubs when they heard the shots.
There was a huge crowd on K-street, said one, who would introduced himself only as Tom C. He said that he and a fellow cyclist immediately turned and rode off. back. The video they filmed at the scene showed a swarm of police and ambulance vehicles, their lights are flashing. Although the chief of police said that three men and three women who all adults were killed and were declared dead on site cyclists added what they saw young people placed in an ambulance.
homeless woman who uses a wheelchair and camped near City Hall, said she also heard gunshots. “I was in little tent for puppies, said the woman, who said her name was Mary, “and I didn’t come out”.
Officials did not disclose details about the victims and their condition. Behind yellow police tape on sunday sidewalks outside the clubs were covered in broken glass and debris with dozens of shell casings while the cops were sifting through what Chief Lester called difficult crime scene.
“I got son down there under the covers,” said Fred Harris, 63, a Sacramento resident. He said he was woken up in middle of night on the phone call from him daughterWho, sobbing, said his son Sergio Harris, 38, was among those killed.
“I said, ‘Wow, wow, no,'” Mr. Harris said. “She said put your clothes on I’ll meet you down there”. He said that son was in club called El Santo Ultralounge when the shooting started.
Leticia Harris, 35, wife of Sergio Harris said he was a landscape designer. with three children between centuries of 5 and 11.
“He was a happy guy family boy, loved his children,” she said. “He was just have fun in the pub.
Berry Akcius, local resident community activist and founder of Voice of Youth who support youth mentoring and gun-violent interference programs said he received a message from official a few moments after the shot, warning him that several people was killed.
Mr Akcius said he arrived at the scene around 2:30 a.m. and saw the woman. coated in blood. “My sister deadhe heard her cry as the authorities rushed to treat seriously wounded.
Mr. Akcius also said he heard a woman cry as she walked past in yellow crime recording a scene asking where she is son It was. According to him, another woman approached him and “told him about last breath in her hands.”
The mass shooting was second in just over month in Sacramento. At the end of February a father killed his three young daughters, attendant and himself in church during a visit under the supervision of guardianship. Sunday death pay is highest in state in one event insofar as last yearwhen 10 people were mortally wounded in San Jose.
Although the police did not say what type of gun were discovered, said Ann Marie Schubert, Sacramento County District Attorney. on Sunday that ‘number of illegal weapon in communities across the country is staggering.”
In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned “another mass casualty shooting.” left “families with lost loved ones, several people were injured and community in grief.” The bill, pending at the direction of the Governor, inspired by the Texas abortion law, would encourage public to help apply state prohibition on unregistered ghost weapons and assault weapons by filing private lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
Performance on stage on Sunday Darrell Steinberg Mayor of Sacramento, called for more mental health funding for young people as well as for more action on gun violence. At least nine mass shootings events – determined by at least four people shot – happened in one weekend last month across the country, like many more with fewer casualties.
“It’s a disease in our culture and we must do our best to cure this disease,” the mayor said.
He also urged city not give up on its city center, which drastically emptied during past two years like a thousand of civil servants were sent home to work remotely. This year Mr. Steinberg pleaded publicly for Return of those and others office workers, and on On Sunday, he noted that city spent more more than 8 million dollars on lighting and more safety measures in the city center, many of which the remains boarded up and scattered with camps of homeless people.
“We want urge people be safe of Of course,” the mayor said. “But we don’t want to shut down. It would be wrong response.”
Isabella Kwai and Julia Hayward contributed reporting.
