Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP/Shutterstock
Six people are dead and at least nine more have been injured in amass shooting in Sacramentoearly Sunday morning, according to police. The shooter or shooters remain at large.
Sacramento Police Chief Katherine Lester told reporters at an early morning news conference that officers were in the area of 10th and K Streets around 2 a.m. local time Sunday morning “when they heard shots being fired,” perABC10.
The officers “located a large crowd” at the scene of the downtown shooting and discovered “multiple people, unfortunately, had been shot,” she said.
In total, six people died and at least nine others were transported to local hospitals, Lester told reporters on Sunday. On Twitter, the Sacramento Police Department said there were 15 victims in total.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP/Shutterstock
So far, no arrests have been made in the case. Now, law enforcement is looking for the public’s help in identifying any suspects.
Lester asked anyone with information to contact authorities “to help us solve” the case. “This is a really tragic situation,” she told reporters, via ABC10.
The Sacramento Police Departmentsaid in a tweetthat the area between 9th Street to 13th Street is currently closed between L Street and J Street “as officers investigate” the shooting. Police are asking people to avoid the area while “the scene remains active.”
Sunday’s shooting occurred a short distance away from Golden 1 Arena, where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings play their home games. The Kings are scheduled to play the Golden State Warriors at the venue at 9 p.m. Sunday, just hours after the shooting.
Berry Accius, a community activist that works with Sacramento’s Voice of the Youth, told ABC10 that he came upon the “chaotic” scene around 2:30 a.m., calling it “just horrific.”
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“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,” Accius told the outlet.
Accius continued to detail what he witnessed in an interview withThe Associated Press: “The first thing I saw was like victims. I saw a young girl with a whole bunch of blood in her body, a girl taking off glass from her, a young girl screaming saying, ‘They killed my sister.’ A mother running up, ‘Where’s my son, has my son been shot?'” he recounted.
The scene at a mass shooting in Sacramento.Rich Pedroncelli/AP/Shutterstock
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinbergissued a statementfollowing the shooting, writing, “Words can’t express my shock & sadness” regarding the tragic accident. “The numbers of dead and wounded are difficult to comprehend,” he added.
“Sadly, we once again mourn the lives lost and for those injured in yet another horrendous act of gun violence,” Newsom wrote. The governor then promised that his administration “will continue to work closely” with law enforcement during the investigation.
“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,” Newsom added.
Sunday’s shooting comes about a month after a manshot and killedhis three daughters and a fourth person at a church in suburban Sacramento before turning the gun on himself.
“Rising gun violence is the scourge of our city, state, and nation, and I support all actions to reduce it,” Mayor Steinberg saidin another tweeton Sunday.
“Our new Police Chief, Kathy Lester, has made it a top priority,” he added, “and I stand firmly behind her.”
Newsom also condemned the ongoing gun crisis in his statement on Sunday. “The scourge of gun violence continues to be a crisis in our country, and we must resolve to bring an end to this carnage,” the governor said.
source: people.com
