Family of Natomas librarian shot to death in 2018 sue DA, police in search of answers
The family of a Natomas library supervisor who was gunned down in a parking lot is suing Sacramento police and prosecutors for answers to how the man who killed her got his hands on the weapon.
Amber Clark was 41 when she was shot 11 times at close range as she sat in her car outside the North Natomas branch library on Dec. 11, 2018. Investigators say she was targeted by Ronald Seay, a Missouri transplant with a long criminal history whose threats of violence against librarians and coworkers there in the months before Clark’s execution-style shooting led to him being banned from St. Louis-area libraries and a university campus.
Seay had been told to stay away from the Natomas library after an outburst there in the months before Clark was killed. Seay, 58, faces a first-degree murder charge and an allegation of lying in wait in Sacramento County Main Jail.
Seay’s earlier court appearances were marked by bizarre outbursts. He has been characterized by defense counsel as “seriously mentally ill” with a “protracted history of mental hospitalizations” and his criminal proceedings have been suspended for months as doctors evaluate whether he is mentally fit to stand trial. A competency hearing is set for September in Sacramento Superior Court.
Now the husband Clark leaves behind wants to know if her death could have been avoided.
“It’s been a long, arduous journey for myself and Amber’s family and we have found roadblocks,” Kelly Clark told The Sacramento Bee in an interview, accompanied by attorney Darren LaVerne. Clark, with Amber’s mother, Dianne Wooten, and sister, Kiona Millirons, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court.
Without the information, Kelly Clark continued, “it’s been difficult to have a full sense of closure. We have a strong sense of resolve about this.”
Seeking out ‘basic information’
Clark’s survivors are seeking the records under the California Public Records Act. Clark’s family, LaVerne said, is entitled to what investigators and prosecutors know – and what has already been turned over to Seay’s attorneys to prepare for his defense:
▪ Who sold Seay the weapon used to kill Amber Clark and whether Seay was a “prohibited person” barred from possessing weapons?
▪ How, as Kelly Clark said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit, his wife’s accused shooter was able to get hands on a gun “despite a well-documented history of mental illness involving threats of violence, contact with law enforcement, and aggressive behavior.”
▪ Witness statements from the gun’s sellers that could shed a light on Seay’s state of mind when he bought the firearm. Records related to threatening statements Seay made before heading west to California, as well as the “trace data” that law enforcement uses to link suspect to firearm in a criminal investigation.
“Making this information available won’t bring Amber back, but by potentially exposing gaps in the system, it may help prevent someone else from going through what our family has,” Clark said in the statement.
“We’re simply getting information for the family, information that they’re entitled to,” said LaVerne, a former federal prosecutor. “As a legal matter, someone who had numerous run-ins with law enforcement in Missouri, who threatened to kill people, was banned from school and two libraries; had the firearm we believe was used to kill Amber – we want to get answers to these questions. We’re talking about basic information.”
Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office officials would not comment directly on the case, but said ethical requirements prevent them from disclosing information to the public and to victims while the case is ongoing.
“That includes the request for information related to firearms purchasing and tracing, which is restricted by federal law,” Sacramento County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi said in a prepared statement. “We have great empathy for the Clark family and we understand the gravity of this tragedy.”
Suspect has history of violence at libraries
Seay had a long history of violent and threatening run-ins at libraries and a university in his hometown of St. Louis before he landed in Sacramento in September 2018. Missouri authorities in the days after Clark’s 2018 slaying told The Bee that Seay had been arrested multiple times for causing disturbances at St. Louis-area libraries and had been barred from at least two branches in the months before Clark’s killing.
The Clark family’s court filing revealed more disturbing behavior and threats of violence toward coworkers while Seay was a student employee at University of Missouri-St.Louis. Attorneys said authorities and health workers knew of his mental health issues and a criminal past.
He was confrontational and aggressive toward coworkers, the suit alleged. In June 2018, six months before Clark was killed, Seay talked of shooting and killing people while sitting in a waiting room of the university’s health services department, Clark’s attorneys say.
“In addition to Ronald Seay’s documented pattern of aggressive behavior, UMSL police and health care staff (including Seay’s psychologist) were aware he had a long history of mental health issues, an extensive criminal record and access to a handgun,” according to the lawsuit.
By June 20, 2018, Seay had lost his job at the university. Police later barred him from the St. Louis campus, according to the lawsuit. By July, Clark family attorneys allege, Seay had two Springfield Armory handguns, bought from a Missouri pawn shop.
By October 2018, Seay made his way to Sacramento and quickly found trouble at another library. That month, he caused a disturbance at the North Natomas branch and was removed. Sacramento police would later issue a no-trespass order that effectively barred him from the library. Two months later, Clark was dead.
Attorneys allege Seay used one of the guns he bought at the Missouri pawn shop to kill Clark at point-blank range.
LaVerne and Kelly Clark say they have been fighting for access to the records from the outset of the criminal case against Seay, but have been rejected by the District Attorney’s Office.
They say the family has waited too long for answers.
The coronavirus pandemic and the near-total shutdown of California’s courts that followed have added more delays. A competency hearing is set for September, but even if Seay is found to be mentally able to assist in his own defense, a preliminary hearing and trial in Amber Clark’s killing remain months away. Kelly Clark said the wait for answers atop the toll of his wife’s killing has been “excruciating.”
Clark has struggled with depression and, since his wife’s killing, his own fears of being ambushed in his car, according to the lawsuit. Wooten is “living a mother’s worst nightmare,” say family attorneys. Atop Wooten’s grief, Amber Clark helped care for Wooten’s disabled daughter. Amber’s sister, Kiona Millirons, also fears she will fall victim to gun violence. Her children struggle with anxiety, heightened during active shooter drills at school.
“This whole event has been excruciating. It’s still extraordinarily difficult,” Kelly Clark said. “We have this innate desire to have answers as to why our loved one’s life was taken.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
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