BE WARNED EXTREMELY GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. TAKE DISCRETION.
For conservatives, when crime happens in America, they often blame Democrats for policies that allow firearms on the streets. Of course, the Republicans refuse to pass legislation to curb gun violence because in their minds, they don't want to infringe on the Second Amendment. But they are quick to point how crime is an epidemic.
The same folks who refuse to hold accountable those individuals responsible for the deadly U.S. Capitol riot are quick to complain about Democrats and crime.
Another mass shooting in America. In California's state capital, Sacramento, a city of 532,000, six people are killed in another senseless act of gun violence. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom, members of California's U.S. House, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) were notified.
Six people were killed and 12 injured before dawn Sunday in Sacramento when multiple shooters fired amid crowds as bars and nightclubs emptied for the night in the second mass shooting in five weeks in California’s capital city, the police chief said.
Three men and three women were killed, Police Chief Kathy Lester told reporters. Sgt. Zach Eaton, a police department spokesman, said investigators believe there were at least two shooters.
The suspects were still at large and authorities said they had found a stolen handgun and were reviewing video footage posted to social media that showed what appeared to be an altercation before the gunfire erupted.
BREAKING:🚨 USA: Multiple people k!IIed and injured in mass shooting incident in downtown Sacramento, California; sound of automatic gunfire captured on amateur video pic.twitter.com/aHwco0UZG6
— Breaking News Worldwide (@FelizKarenP1) April 3, 2022
This is Sergio. He is one of the 6 victims in the mass shooting in Downtown #Sacramento. He was a father and married. His family gave me this picture as they are gathered outside the scene. @ABC10#massshootingpic.twitter.com/h1hIGs6pE9
I just spoke with Frank Turner outside the scene of the mass shooting in #Sacramento. He shared with me his son, 29-year-old DeVazia Turner is one of the 6 shot and killed in this shooting. He lived in Vacaville but is from Sacramento @ABC10pic.twitter.com/OVtTUHSWIq
Here are some still pics from that video. If you recognize anyone or have any info please call the authorities as 6 are dead, 15 injured in this horrific Sacramento shooting. pic.twitter.com/6gchlPFiPe
Detectives were trying to determine the sequence of events before the shooting and Eaton said they “don’t know if that fight actually lead to the shooting.”
A police camera captured part of the shooting, Lester said, and investigators have located hundreds of pieces of evidence amid a scene that Lester described as “really complex and complicated" — so much so that the bodies of the victims remained on the street hours later.
The crime scene stretched across multiple city blocks, with dozens of blue and yellow evidence markers dotting the pavement. At least four of the wounded battled life-threatening gunshot injuries in hospitals, officials said.
Mass shootings happen everyday.
Kelsey Schar was staying on the fourth floor of Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw flashes in the dark. She walked to the window and “saw a guy running and just shooting,” Schar told The Associated Press in an interview.
Her friend, Madalyn Woodard, said she saw a crowd in the street scatter amid the gunfire and a girl who appeared to have been shot in the arm laying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with what looked like napkins to try to stanch the bleeding.
A video posted on Twitter showed people running through the street amid the sounds of rapid gunfire in the city located 75 miles (120 kilometers) from San Francisco.
The area where the violence occurred on the outskirts of the city’s main entertainment district is packed with restaurants and bars. Nightclubs close at 2 a.m. and it’s normal for streets to be full of people at that hour.
The district is anchored by the Golden One Center that attracts big-name concerts and is home to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, who are hosting a game Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors. City officials have invested heavily in the area to promote development in the area and police said there would be extra patrols downtown ahead of the basketball game.
“This morning our city has a broken heart,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. "We don’t know all the facts but we know there were mass casualties in a very short amount of time.”
Officers were patrolling the area near the shooting site two blocks from the State Capitol at about 2 a.m. when they heard gunfire and rushed to the scene, Lester told reporters. They found a large crowd gathered and six people dead in the street.
Twelve other people were also shot and wounded in the melee. Police urged witnesses or anyone with recordings of the shooting to contact police.
“We’re asking for the public’s help in helping us to identify the suspects in this,” Lester said.
Pop duo Aly & AJ performed Saturday at Sacramento’s Crest Theatre and their tour bus was caught in the gunfire, the musicians said on Twitter. No one in their touring group was hurt, the tweet said.
Sunday’s violence was the third time in the U.S. this year that at least six people have been killed in a mass shooting, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. And it was the second mass shooting in Sacramento in the last five weeks.
On Feb. 28, a father killed his three daughters, a chaperone and himself in a church during a weekly supervised visitation. David Mora, 39, was armed with a homemade semiautomatic rifle-style weapon, even though he was under a restraining order that prohibited him from possessing a firearm.
Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, who represents the area where the shooting happened, said she’s fielded phone calls reporting many violent incidents in her district during her 15 months in office.
Valenzuela cried at a news conference as she told reporters that the latest phone call woke her up at 2:30 a.m. Sunday with details about the latest tragedy.
“I’m heartbroken and I’m outraged,” she said. “Our community deserves better than this.”
Sacramento night life ruined by a domestic terrorist.
The city's downtown development effort was working until the pandemic hit and forced many businesses to close, according to Grant Gorman, a bartender who lives near the place the shooting happened.
“Just when we were reaching some semblance of it being a bustling downtown area that was safe and we had a bunch of open businesses to go to, the pandemic hit it and just crushed it,” Gorman said.
Steinberg, the mayor, said in recent years it “has been a very difficult time in downtown Sacramento and Sacramento as a whole.”
He added that the shooting “gives pause to our entire community” but urged people to continue visiting the area despite the recent violence.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that his administration was working closely with law enforcement officials.
“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," he said.
Kay Harris, 32, told AP she was asleep when one of her family members called to say they thought her brother Sergio Harris had been killed. She said she thought he had been at the London nightclub, which is near the shooting.
Harris said she has been to the club a few times and described it as a place for “the younger crowd.” She spent the morning circling the block waiting for news.
“Very much so a senseless, violent act,” she said.
One of the victims was named.
Pamela Harris, Sergio Harris' mother, told The Sacramento Bee the family has not heard from him yet.
“We just want to know what happened to him,” Pamela Harris told the newspaper. “Not knowing anything is just hard to face.”
Berry Accius, a community activist, said he came to the scene shortly after the shooting happened.
“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 said.
Are you tired of thoughts and prayers when it comes to gun violence?
Every community in the United States will eventually have a legacy. A legacy of tragedy. Gun violence and COVID-19 will affect your town, your family and your life. So I don't want to hear that bullshit about how gun reform is taking away your rights to own firearms.
I don't want to hear that protesting against police killing people of color is hate on cops in general. I don't want to hear talk about the coronavirus being a myth. When you hear folks say "gun rights," what they really mean is that its white privilege.
I don't want to hear folks say masks and vaccine mandates impede their freedoms. It prevents a deadly outbreak from spreading. If you want to die from the coronavirus, that's on you.
I don't want to hear the shit about guns saving lives. Cause a bullet does not have eyes and it's always likely gonna hit a target. These folks seem to not get it. These incidents are a tragic part of American history.
The website Officer Down is a memorial to those who were killed in the line of duty. Those who don't get their names mentioned in the junk food media. Also the website the National Gun Violence Memorial also keeps record of the many individuals killed by gun violence.
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential. Contact social media outlets directly if you are concerned about a friend’s social media updates or dial 911 in an emergency. Learn more on the Lifeline’s website or the Crisis Text Line’s website.
GUN VIOLENCE IS THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES!
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