Law enforcement in Sacramento are looking into a violent incident that broke out Saturday night April 18 at Howe Park in Sacramento just as deputies were shutting down a large unauthorized gathering of multiple hundreds of people.
Background
Deputies Cottage Way shooting Sacramento initially got calls about the park shortly before 6:30 PM after obtaining information of people potentially armed with concealed firearms. Soon after, additional information came in mentioning a possible fight occurring within the park grounds.
An overhead unit searched from above but came back with no confirmation of a fight. Even so, it was apparent that a crowd of several hundred had gathered without authorization without permission.
When the Shots Rang Out
Deputies began the process of clearing the park by positioning themselves around the crowd and using their vehicle PA systems ordering the assembled crowd to go home. Roughly 15 minutes were spent for the crowd to leave.
As the crowd was being cleared that an estimated 20 to 25 shots were fired. The rapid succession of shots sent the crowd running in all directions. Officers at once began locating gunshot victims.
Four Gunshot Victims
By the time the scene was secured, four shooting victims were found to have been shot. Those injured — comprising three men and one woman all believed to be in their early to late twenties — were rushed to area medical facilities. Hospital staff reported that two had critical injury classifications, one of the four had moderate gunshot wounds, and one sustained minor gunshot wounds. In a positive development, no fatalities were reported and all four were stable.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department arrived on scene and helped triage the injured at the park.
Physical Evidence
The center of the incident was determined to have happened near Cottage Way alongside the local Home Depot located at the 2200 Howe Avenue block. Detectives located more spent casings on Cottage Way. Round impacts were discovered in the wrought iron perimeter fencing surrounding the Home Depot store. These discoveries confirmed that at least one of the shooters had been aiming south from Cottage Way in the direction of the Home Depot building and parking lot. The Home Depot was put under lockdown for a period of time. Forensic investigators and law enforcement detectives kept processing evidence through the early morning hours.
Detainees in Solano County
Information relayed over scanner radio traffic showed that a Kia was pulled over in Solano County. Four individuals were stopped and detained. Deputies were en route to collect those detained to pick up those detained for questioning. Surveillance footage confirmed that there were two gunmen.