The Sacramento Police are on the trail of a gunman who shot one dead and wounded another at the Arden Fair Mall on Friday. The shooter was gone by the time police arrived at the scene, and while the wounded victim was taken to hospital for treatment, the other victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Spokesman for the Sacramento Police, Karl Chan, said the shooting took place at the mall a little after 6 pm. He said there was a lot of pandemonium when the shooting started, but it actually seemed like an isolated incident and not the job of an active, deranged shooter. He disclosed that the Homicide Division will obtain video surveillance footage from the mall so that the shooter can be identified and apprehended in record time.
“We do know that the mall does have a pretty robust surveillance footage so that’s going to be something that our homicide detectives are going to be definitely looking at,” Chan said. “We are doing everything that we can to identify the suspect or suspects who are involved in this incident and make an arrest in this.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg expressed condolences to the families of the shooting victims and urged members of the public to come forward with information that could lead to the arrest of the shooter. He also expressed dismay that gun violence is on the increase in the city and encouraged people to understand that conflicts are better not resolved with guns.
“We are deeply concerned by the increase in gun violence in Sacramento and other cities during the pandemic and have supported increasing our efforts to reach young people at risk,” Mayor Steinberg wrote on Twitter. “A gun is never the answer.”
Several shoppers were locked in with mall employees during the shooting incident, and many people reported hearing gunshots. Eye-witnesses said people were running helter-skelter for their lives, and a lot of shoppers huddled together inside shops until the danger was past.
“We were at DeVons Jewelers, getting our wedding bands,” said Christopher Mendes who is getting married next Friday. “All of a sudden, we heard firecracker sounding sounds. We all just ducked in the side, hid behind the furniture. We’re super thankful to the employees and the police. Everyone was super calm, super fast to react.”
Another witness, Esther Diaz, said she saw the victims, and they looked to be young folks. She said she looked upon the bodies and that things were pretty bad with them as they lay on the ground before police arrived at the scene.
“Blood is everywhere, people are hurt, and I knew that was time to go,” Diaz said. “There were two bodies there, one had blood going out his head…both of them looked very young.”
Source: cnn.com
