Police said they held Dandre Martin, 26, as a “relative suspect” on charges of assault and illegal firearms. Detectives and SWAT team members found a handgun during a search of three homes in the area.
The arrest was made as the six victims killed were identified. The shooting occurred on Sunday around 2 a.m. local time as bars closed and patrons filled the streets near the state Capitol.
Sacramento County Medical Examiner has identified the three women killed as 21-year-old Johntaya Alexander. Melinda Davis, 57; and Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21. The three men killed were Sergio Harris, 38. Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and Devazia Turner, 29.
The explosion of shots from at least two gunmen made people run in terror. Twelve were injured in the neighborhood, a few blocks from the Golden One Arena, where the NBA Sacramento Kings observed a minute of silence before their game Sunday night.
Detectives were trying to determine if a stolen weapon found at the scene was linked to the shooting, said Police Chief Kathy Lester. Ask the public to share videos and other information that could lead to the killers.
Leticia Fields-Harris, whose husband Sergio Harris, 38, died in the shooting, weeps near the crime scene on Sunday. (Fred Greaves / Reuters)
“The magnitude of the violence that has just occurred in our city is unprecedented in my 27 years here,” Lester told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters. “We are shocked and devastated by this tragedy.”
Martin was held without bail and was scheduled to appear in Sacramento Supreme Court on Tuesday, according to jail records. His criminal record has not been released, but records show he is also wanted on a misdemeanor warrant by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California.
It was not immediately clear if Martin had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Of the 12 injured, at least four were seriously injured, the Sacramento Fire Department said. At least seven of the victims had been discharged from hospitals by Monday.
In the scene where the chaos broke out, small memorials with candles, balloons and flowers sprouted from the sidewalk. A balloon had a message that said in part: “You will be forever in our hearts and minds. Nothing will ever be the same.”
Roads were reopened to cars and pedestrians and the police tape had been removed. Aside from a handful of TV cameras, there was little indication of the square’s previous day’s bloodbath.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and other city officials have denounced the escalation of violence in the city, while also urging people to continue coming to the city center for events such as NBA games and Broadway musicals “Wicked.”
“We can never accept it as normal and we will never do it,” Steinberg said of the shooting. “But we must also live our lives.”
CLOCKS City council calls for tougher gun laws:
It calls for arms control measures following the deadly shooting in Sacramento
Katie Valenzuela, a member of the Sacramento, California City Council, is calling for tighter gun control following a deadly shooting in the city center early Sunday morning. 1:07
The shootings erupted shortly after the clash broke out on a street full of luxury hotels, nightclubs and bars, and police said they were investigating whether the altercation was linked to the shooting. A video of witnesses posted on social media showed rapid gunshots for at least 45 seconds as people screamed and ran to cover themselves.
The shootings surprised sleeping guests at the Citizen Hotel, which included a wedding party, and fans of rapper Tyler the Creator, who appeared at a concert hours earlier.
From her window on the fourth floor of the hotel, 18-year-old Kelsey Schar said she saw a man running while shooting a gun. He saw flashes from the gun in the dark as people ran to cover.
Schar’s girlfriend, Madalyn Woodward, said she saw a girl who appeared to have been shot in the hand lie on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with something resembling napkins to try to stop the bleeding.
Sunday’s violence was the third time in the United States this year 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 five weeks.
A man walks by a monument near the site of the shooting on Monday. (Rich Pedroncelli / The Associated Press)
“We must do more than mourn”: Biden
President Joe Biden called for action on gun crimes in a statement on Sunday. “Today, America mourns again for another community devastated by armed violence,” Biden said. “But we must do more than mourn; we must act.” On Feb. 28, a father killed his three daughters, a attendant and himself at a Sacramento church during a weekly surveillance. David Mora, 39, was armed with a makeshift semi-automatic weapon, although he was under a restrictive measure prohibiting him from possessing a firearm. The crime scene on Sunday spread to two blocks in the city, closing a large part of the city center. The bodies remained on the sidewalk throughout the day as Leicester said investigators worked to work out a “really complex and intricate scene” to make sure investigators gathered all the evidence they could to “see the perpetrators”. of this crime to be brought to justice “. Coun. Katie Valenzuela, who represents the region, said she had received many phone calls reporting violence in her district during her 15 months in office. She cried in a press conference as she told reporters that the last phone call woke her up at 2:30 in the early hours of Sunday. “I’m cracked and angry,” he said. “Our community deserves better than that.” A message for one of the victims is displayed on a balloon at a monument near the scene of the shooting on Monday. (Rich Pedroncelli / The Associated Press) A sheet is used to block the view as the body of one of the victims is loaded into a medical examiner’s truck on Sunday. (Rich Pedroncelli / The Associated Press)
