Two dead in Sacramento double slaying that led to police standoff
Two people are dead and a man who held Sacramento police at bay for hours before surrendering early Friday has been arrested in the slayings.
A gunshot just after 11:30 p.m. Thursday sent Sacramento officers to a home in the 4400 block of 71st Street, in the city’s Colonial Heights neighborhood. The man emerged more than five hours later and surrendered to officers. Inside, were the bodies of a man and a woman, both shot dead, said a Sacramento Police spokesperson.
Police later identified the man suspected in the deadly shootings as Manfred Schield, 44, of Sacramento. Schield was still being booked into Sacramento County custody late Friday morning on charges connected to the killings.
A woman’s call from a neighbor’s home brought the first officers to the scene, police said. She said a man carrying a gun, later identified as Schield, was inside her home. The officers heard the gunshot as they approached and surrounded the home, calling on the man to surrender.
It would be hours before he did. A police tactical team aboard armored vehicles joined crisis negotiators to try coaxing Schield out of the home. The stalemate stretched into the early morning hours before he surrendered to authorities just after 5:30 a.m. Thursday, Sacramento Police officials told reporters.
The victims were identified as Cynthia Torres, 64 and Nicholas Pontliana, 68.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 12:21 PM.
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