Newsman: A mass shooting killed six people and injured 12 others early Sunday in downtown Sacramento. At least two shooters opened fire as bars closed for the night and crowds emptied onto downtown streets, police said. Authorities are searching for multiple shooters.
While authorities have not identified any of the victims yet, on Sunday morning family members told CBS 13 that 29-year-old DeVazia Turner among those killed in mass shooting.
Family has also identified 38-year-old Sergio Harris as a second victim.
Police confirmed a stolen handgun was recovered at the scene but did not provide additional details when asked at the press conference.
President Joe Biden called for action on gun crimes in a statement Sunday.
“Today, America once again mourns for another community devastated by gun violence,” Biden said. “But we must do more than mourn; we must act.”
Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement regarding the shooting in the state capital:
“Sadly, we once again mourn the lives lost and for those injured in yet another horrendous act of gun violence. Jennifer and I send our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and to the wider community impacted by this terrible tragedy.
“As it is early in this investigation, my Administration will continue to work closely with local and state law enforcement as we monitor the situation.
“What we do know at this point is that another mass casualty shooting has occurred, leaving families with lost loved ones, multiple individuals injured and a community in grief. The scourge of gun violence continues to be a crisis in our country, and we must resolve to bring an end to this carnage.”
This is the city’s second mass shooting in five weeks, when three men and three women were killed, Police Chief Kathy Lester said. Their bodies remained on the pavement hours after the gunfire erupted around 2 a.m. At least four of the wounded were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.Five of the injured were transported to UC Davis Medical Center for treatment.
Authorities have not identified any of the victims or offered a possible motive.
“The scale of violence that just happened in our city is unprecedented during my 27 years here at the Sacramento Police Department,” said Lester. “We are shocked and heartbroken by this tragedy, but we are also resolved as an agency to find those responsible and to secure justice for the victims and their families.”
A large fight took place right before the shootings, Lester said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. She said Sacramento Police have confirmed there were multiple shooters and have located “hundreds of pieces of evidence” at the scene, including a stolen handgun.
Police sought clues from a crime scene that stretched across multiple city blocks as they searched for the shooters.
Lester said members of the California Highway Patrol and the Sacramento Fire Department also assisted in the initial response to the shooting.
The suspects were still at large and authorities said they had found a stolen handgun and were reviewing video footage posted to social media that showed what appeared to be an altercation before the gunfire erupted.
Detectives were trying to determine the sequence of events before the shooting and Eaton said they “don’t know if that fight actually led to the shooting.”
“I have every confidence that Chief Lester and the hard working men and women of the police department are going to find who was responsible for this horrific and unacceptable murder,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg during the afternoon press conference. “And they are going to arrest them and that we will bring them to justice, for that must be a big part of our community’s response.”
A police camera captured part of the shooting, Lester said, and investigators have located hundreds of pieces of evidence amid a scene that Lester described as “really complex and complicated” — so much so that the bodies of the victims remained on the street hours later.
The crime scene stretched across multiple city blocks, with dozens of blue and yellow evidence markers dotting the pavement. At least four of the wounded battled life-threatening gunshot injuries in hospitals, officials said.
Lester called it “a very complex and complicated scene.”
Sacramento police released additional information late Sunday morning, saying that a total of twelve shooting victims with varying degrees of injuries were accounted for in addition to the six victims who were pronounced dead at the scene.
During the preliminary phases of the shooting investigation, police recovered at least one firearm at the scene.
9th Street to 13th Street remained closed between L Street and J Street downtown as the investigation into the deadly shooting continued.
At a morning press conference, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called the shooting a “senseless and unacceptable tragedy.”
During a press conference about the mass shooting late Sunday morning with other Sacramento city leaders, Steinberg railed against gun violence, calling it “a sickness in our country and a sickness in our culture.”
Sacramento police encourage any witnesses with information regarding the investigation into the mass shooting to contact the SPD dispatch center at (916) 808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at (916) 443-HELP (4357). Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000. Anonymous tips can also be submitted using the free “P3 Tips” smartphone app.
All told in 2021 there were 49 mass shootings in California, 15 of which were in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Oakland recording the most violence of any one city, with 46 people shot, five of them fatally.
