Deadly gunfire outside Sacramento club took place 1 mile from downtown mass shooting
Monday morning’s deadly downtown Sacramento shooting, which has so far left one person killed, marked the latest in a cluster of multiple-victim shootings the city has seen this year.
Two of them took place near popular late-night clubs near downtown, including the one that occurred early Monday outside the bar Mix.
The city’s fist mass shooting this year unfolded at a church on Feb. 28, when David Mora, 39, shot and killed his three daughters, a chaperone and himself.
Weeks later came one of the deadliest shootings in Sacramento history, when what police described as gang-related altercation ended in a shootout at 10th and K streets that left 12 people wounded and six dead.
So when five people were shot Monday morning at 16th and L streets less than a mile away from April’s shooting, Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela was angry.
“On a day when we’re meant to be celebrating our country, we find ourselves mourning another senseless act of gun violence on our streets,” Valenzuela said in a statement on Twitter. “To have this happen while we’re still recovering from the events of April 3 is heartbreaking, infuriating, and wholly unacceptable.”
Valenzuela, whose district includes downtown, wrote that she is committed to collaborating with the city team and community to “do everything possible” to limit Sacramento gun violence.
The string of shootings comes amid a rise in instances of fatal gun violence over the last four years. In 2020 and 2021, gun deaths in the city spiked 58 percent from 2018 and 2019. The pandemic-era gun violence surge mirrored a rise in gun sales, as well as a rise in illegally-obtained weapons.
The Sacramento Police Department is seeking video evidence from the community on Monday’s shooting.
Shootings outside nightclubs
According to Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, Monday’s shooting took place outside the Mix nightclub at 16th and L streets while the club was closing down.
Several shootings have taken place outside of Sacramento-area bars and nightclubs over the past five years, notably in the early hours of the morning when the clubs close.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg in April urged people to go downtown, but added, “don’t stay out till 2 in the morning.”
As the pandemic went on, local leaders made an effort to bring back Sacramento’s night scene to life. But this effort didn’t come with a proper emphasis on keeping nightlife safe, some say.
“The city planning created all this for income purposes,” Chris McGoey, a security consultant and expert on nightclub safety, told The Sacramento Bee after April’s shooting. “And then they failed to adequately address the entertainment district security concerns.”