Six people were killed and ten others were injured in an early-morning shooting on a busy street, police said, adding that they were still looking for suspects and that no one was in custody.
“We’re asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the suspects and providing any information they can to assist us in solving this,” Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester told reporters. The shooting happened near the Golden 1 Center, which is home to the Sacramento Kings basketball team and hosts concerts.
Officers cordoned off several blocks and dotted them with blue and red plastic cones to mark evidence. The victims’ ages and identities were not released by the police. Family members waited outside the police lines, hoping to learn more about their loved ones who had gone missing.
Pamela Harris, whose 38-year-old son, Sergio, had been shot and killed outside a nightclub, said her daughter had called her at 2:15 a.m. to tell her. Berry Accius, a community activist, said he rushed to the scene shortly after the shooting.
“The first thing I saw was a young lady covered in her own blood as well as the blood of others.” ‘My sister is dead!’ she had just said on the phone. Accius, whose Voice of the Youth leadership programme focuses on gun violence prevention, said, “My sister is dead!”
The violence took place just a few blocks from the state capitol building, in an area that had recently been revitalised as a tourist destination. It shattered the welcoming atmosphere as pandemic masks began to come off in the last week, and bars and restaurants began to fill with people who had been isolated for a long time due to COVID-19.
“It’s difficult to comprehend the number of people who have died or been injured. On Twitter, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said, “We await more information about exactly what happened in this tragic incident.” “Rising gun violence is a scourge on our city, state, and country, and I support any and all efforts to curb it.”
The shooting comes just over a month after a man in the same city shot and killed his three children and a fourth person before killing himself.