Six people died and 12 were injured before dawn in Sacramento on Sunday multiple shooters The police chief said the second mass shooting in California’s capital city in five weeks was the shooting between a crowd as bars and nightclubs were cleared for the night.
Police Chief Cathy Lester told reporters that three women and three men were among those killed.
Suspects were still at large on Sunday afternoon and officials said they had recovered at least one firearm and were reviewing video footage posted on social media showing them before the firing began. There appears to be a dispute. Police said in a statement that it was not yet clear whether the fighting was related to the shootings.
The crime scene is spread across several city blocks, with dozens of blue and yellow evidence markers dotting the sidewalk. Many of those injured struggled with deadly gunshot wounds in hospitals.
Kelsey Shar was staying on the fourth floor of the Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw glow in the dark. She went to the window and “saw a man running and just shooting,” Schaar told the Associated Press in an interview.
Her friend, Madeline Woodard, said she saw a crowd disperse in the street amid gunfire and a girl who had been shot in the arm was lying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rush to help the girl, who looks like a napkin, to try to stop the bleeding.
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A video posted to Twitter showed people running down the street amid the sound of gunfire in the city of about 525,000, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from San Francisco.
The area where the violence took place, on the outskirts of the city’s main entertainment district, is packed with restaurants and bars. Nightclubs close at 2 am and it is normal for the streets to be full of people at that time.
The district is anchored by the Golden Forest Center, which attracts big-name concertgoers and is home to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. City officials have invested heavily in the area to promote development in the area.
“Our city is heartbroken this morning,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “We don’t know all the facts, but we do know that there were mass casualties in a very short period of time.” Lester told reporters that officers were patrolling near the shooting site two blocks from the Capitol at around 2 a.m. when they heard gunshots and arrived at the scene.
Officials said that 12 other people were also injured in the scuffle and at least four of them were seriously injured.
Police sought public’s help to identify the shooters
A police statement said officers recovered “at least one firearm” from the scene, and officers urged witnesses or anyone with a recording of the shooting to contact police.
“We’re asking for the public’s help to help identify the suspects,” Lester said.
Pop duo Aly and AJ performed Saturday at the Crest Theater in Sacramento and their tour bus was hit by gunfire, the musicians said on Twitter. The tweet said that no one in his touring group was hurt.
Sunday’s violence was the third time this year in the US that at least six people have been killed in mass shootings, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. And it was the second mass shooting in Sacramento in the past five weeks.
On February 28, a father killed his three daughters, a mentor and himself in a church during weekly observances. David Mora, 39, was armed with a domestic semiautomatic rifle-style weapon, even though he was under a restraining order that barred him from possessing a firearm.
Council member Katie Valenzuela, who represents the area where the shooting happened, said she had made phone calls reporting several violent incidents in her district during the 15 months in her office.
Valenzuela cried at a news conference as she told reporters the latest phone call woke her up at 2:30 on Sunday with details of the latest tragedy.
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‘Heartbroken and angry’
“I’m heartbroken and I’m angry,” she said. “Our community deserves better than this.” The city’s downtown development effort was working until the pandemic hit and forced many businesses to close, according to Grant Gorman, a bartender who lives near the shooting location.
“Just when we were getting into a bustling downtown area that was safe and we had a bunch of open businesses to go to, the pandemic hit it and just crushed it,” Gorman said.
Mayor Steinberg said in recent years, “It’s been a very difficult time in Sacramento and the city of Sacramento.” He said the shooting “pauses our entire community” but urged people to continue visiting the area despite the recent violence.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that his administration is working closely with law enforcement officials.
“What we do know at this point is that there has been another mass casualty shooting, with families of loved ones lost, several people injured and a community in mourning,” he said.
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