The police said they have not yet made any arrests, the surroundings of the tragedy remaining at risk. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, at least six people died and ten others were injured in a shooting in Sacramento, California. According to Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, officers present in the city center evoke a “crowd” present at the scene before the events. Among those hospitalized, some are “seriously injured”, in “critical” condition, announced the mayor of the city, Darrell Steinberg, during a press conference.
“We were able to confirm that six people had been killed and that ten others had been hospitalized”, following this shooting, she explained during a press conference. And to add: “We ask the public to help us identify suspects and to provide any information that would allow us to shed light” on this case.
Authorities have urged residents to avoid the area, marked off by a cordon and where a heavy police presence has been deployed. At least one weapon was found at the scene by investigators, authorities said. Videos posted on social media show people running in panic as gunshots are heard.
According to several media, a brawl broke out outside the London, a nightclub opened in 2019. Several videos circulating on social networks but whose authenticity could not be established show a fight involving several people, followed by a series of detonations reminiscent of an automatic weapon. Witnesses, interviewed by local media, also mentioned close shots reminiscent of this type of weapon.
Blood, people screaming…
“It was horrible,” Berry Accius, a community activist who arrived at the scene a few minutes after the shooting, told local channel KXTV. He described “victims covered in blood, people screaming, crying, others asking where their brother was or mothers trying to identify their son”.
Shootings in public places are common in the United States, from schools to supermarkets. According to the Small Arms Survey program, there were approximately 393 million guns in the United States in 2017, more than people. The right to possess arms is guaranteed by the Constitution. Several initiatives by elected officials to strengthen gun laws have failed in Congress, where the powerful NRA gun lobby wields strong influence. “Rising gun violence is the blight of our city, state and nation, and I support all measures to reduce it,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said.
Since the start of 2022, the Gun Violence Archive site has recorded more than 10,700 gun deaths in the United States, including suicides. Over the whole of 2021, the number is 45,000 dead, according to the same site.