Man faces 150 years to life for murder in 2018 shooting at south Sacramento homeless camp
A man faces a maximum of 150 years to life in prison for first-degree murder and attempted murder, convicted this week for an October 2018 shooting at a homeless camp in south Sacramento.
Chue Xiong, whom the Sacramento Police Department said was a homeless man known to frequent the area near the shooting, was found guilty by jury on Tuesday of those charges as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a news release by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Xiong approached a victim in a homeless camp near Indian Lane and Wah Avenue on Oct. 18, 2018, and held them at gunpoint while demanding to know where someone was, according to the DA news release.
At that point, Mario Perez-Arzola approached Xiong and had apparently calmed him down before Xiong “inexplicably shot” Perez-Arzola in the chest, killing him, the news release said. Xiong then shot the victim who had been held at gunpoint in the shoulder. The second shooting victim was transported to a hospital in critical condition, as The Sacramento Bee reported at the time, but ultimately survived the injury.
The shooting occurred near railroad and light-rail tracks, causing a “major” service disruption to the latter that day.
A neighbor who heard the shooting, Jeff Bailey, told The Bee at the time that he heard a series of five of six “quick succession pops” around 4:30 a.m. that day.
Sacramento police arrested Xiong in connection with the fatal shooting and he was booked into jail Oct. 27, 2018.
Xiong, who has a prior felony “strike” offense for first-degree residential burglary in 2016, faces 150 years to life in prison, according to the DA news release. He is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 9.
