At least six people are dead and 10 more injured after a shooting in downtown Sacramento, police said.
The shooting occurred near 10th and K streets, not far from the State Capitol building and a popular cluster of downtown nightclubs, around 2 a.m. Sunday. Video posted on Twitter showed people running through the street as the sound of rapid gunfire could be heard in the background. At 5 a.m., Sacramento police announced that “officers located at least 15 shooting victims, including 6 who are deceased.”
Two employees at the El Santo Ultra Lounge said with some clubs closing at 2 a.m., the streets were busy with departing party-goers. Jesse Fuentes, a club security guard, told the Los Angeles Times that he and another guard saw a scuffle start at a nearby parking garage.
“Once we went over there, it was pretty much a gunfight going on,” Fuentes said. “We were just trying to take cover because we couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from at first, because they were coming from two different areas. But the one that really just freaked everybody out was the automatic weapons. That’s when everyone was running and pushing.”
Kelsey Schar, 18, was staying on the fourth floor of Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw flashes in the dark. She walked to the window and “saw a guy running and just shooting,” Schar told the Associated Press.
Her friend, Madalyn Woodard, 17, said she saw a crowd in the street scatter amid the gunfire. She said she saw a girl who appeared to have been shot in the arm lying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with what looked like napkins to try to stanch the bleeding.
Sacramento police Chief Kathy Lester called it a “very complex and complicated scene” and asked any witnesses or people with video evidence to contact police. Lester said the suspect or suspects are still at large.
Another witness described the nightmarish scene to ABC10.
“A lot of victims with blood, just watching some of the families that didn’t know if their loved one was alive, running, trying to figure out what was happening, people distraught, people discombobulated,” community activist Berry Accius told the TV station. “It was just horrific.”
Police provided few details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting but said in a tweet that a “large police presence will remain and the scene remains active.” Ninth Street to 13th Street is closed between L and J streets until further notice. Helicopter footage from KCRA shows investigators walking the area and leaving evidence markers on the sidewalks.
No victims have been identified by law enforcement; families are asked to go to Sacramento City Hall for more information.
Kay Harris, 32, told AP she was asleep when one of her family members called to say they thought her brother Sergio Harris had been killed. She said she thought he had been at the London nightclub, which is near the shooting. Harris said she has been to the club a few times and described it as a place for “the younger crowd.” She spent the morning circling the block waiting for news.
“Very much so a senseless, violent act,” she said.
Pamela Harris, Sergio Harris' mother, told the Sacramento Bee the family has not heard from him yet.
“We just want to know what happened to him,” Pamela Harris told the newspaper. “Not knowing anything is just hard to face.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg gave a brief press conference late Sunday morning, pointing to the epidemic of gun violence in America. "This is a sickness," Steinberg said. "A sickness in our country, and a sickness in our culture."
Sunday’s mass shooting is the second instance of gun violence to shock the Sacramento area in recent months. In late February, a father fatally shot his three daughters and their chaperone at a supervised visit at a Sacramento church; the man then killed himself.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information is available.
The shooting occurred near 10th and K streets, not far from the State Capitol building and a popular cluster of downtown nightclubs, around 2 a.m. Sunday. Video posted on Twitter showed people running through the street as the sound of rapid gunfire could be heard in the background. At 5 a.m., Sacramento police announced that “officers located at least 15 shooting victims, including 6 who are deceased.”
Two employees at the El Santo Ultra Lounge said with some clubs closing at 2 a.m., the streets were busy with departing party-goers. Jesse Fuentes, a club security guard, told the Los Angeles Times that he and another guard saw a scuffle start at a nearby parking garage.
“Once we went over there, it was pretty much a gunfight going on,” Fuentes said. “We were just trying to take cover because we couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from at first, because they were coming from two different areas. But the one that really just freaked everybody out was the automatic weapons. That’s when everyone was running and pushing.”
Kelsey Schar, 18, was staying on the fourth floor of Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw flashes in the dark. She walked to the window and “saw a guy running and just shooting,” Schar told the Associated Press.
Her friend, Madalyn Woodard, 17, said she saw a crowd in the street scatter amid the gunfire. She said she saw a girl who appeared to have been shot in the arm lying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with what looked like napkins to try to stanch the bleeding.
Sacramento police Chief Kathy Lester called it a “very complex and complicated scene” and asked any witnesses or people with video evidence to contact police. Lester said the suspect or suspects are still at large.
Another witness described the nightmarish scene to ABC10.
“A lot of victims with blood, just watching some of the families that didn’t know if their loved one was alive, running, trying to figure out what was happening, people distraught, people discombobulated,” community activist Berry Accius told the TV station. “It was just horrific.”
Police provided few details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting but said in a tweet that a “large police presence will remain and the scene remains active.” Ninth Street to 13th Street is closed between L and J streets until further notice. Helicopter footage from KCRA shows investigators walking the area and leaving evidence markers on the sidewalks.
No victims have been identified by law enforcement; families are asked to go to Sacramento City Hall for more information.
Kay Harris, 32, told AP she was asleep when one of her family members called to say they thought her brother Sergio Harris had been killed. She said she thought he had been at the London nightclub, which is near the shooting. Harris said she has been to the club a few times and described it as a place for “the younger crowd.” She spent the morning circling the block waiting for news.
“Very much so a senseless, violent act,” she said.
Pamela Harris, Sergio Harris' mother, told the Sacramento Bee the family has not heard from him yet.
“We just want to know what happened to him,” Pamela Harris told the newspaper. “Not knowing anything is just hard to face.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg gave a brief press conference late Sunday morning, pointing to the epidemic of gun violence in America. "This is a sickness," Steinberg said. "A sickness in our country, and a sickness in our culture."
Sunday’s mass shooting is the second instance of gun violence to shock the Sacramento area in recent months. In late February, a father fatally shot his three daughters and their chaperone at a supervised visit at a Sacramento church; the man then killed himself.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information is available.
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