Sacramento police disperse looters, large crowd after protests downtown over Floyd killing

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A night of looting through downtown Sacramento appeared to end early Sunday after a phalanx of helmeted police officers pushed a crowd of about 200 back through the midtown business corridor until it dissipated.

The drama ended a little after 2 a.m., or about five hours after it began when a group of looters smashed through the doors of the downtown Macy’s and proceeded to steal merchandise from at least a half dozen other stores. Other businesses had windows smashed or were defaced with graffiti.

The looting spree culminated a daylong protest over police brutality. More than two hours after the looting started, police in riot gear set up a line at 21st and J streets, at the western end of midtown, and began firing pepper balls, tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd. An hour later, at around 1:20 a.m., the officers began pushing east along J Street.

They shot “flash bang” noise-making devices and tear gas canisters; some in the crowd picked up the canisters and lobbed them back, along with some rocks and firecrackers, even as they retreated in the face of the advancing police line.

The crowd thinned out as it got pushed eastward down J Street. Police continued to advance toward a handful of people at 2 a.m. when they had reached 26th and J streets. Yet the police continued deploying tear gas and flash bangs as the crowd dissipated onto side streets.

The police issued multiple “unlawful assembly” orders over a megaphone and told the crowd to disperse. A man shouted from the sidewalk, “They shot me for no reason.” Window were smashed at Mike’s Camera, one of the major businesses in the neighborhood, but iron security gates prevented anyone from getting in.

About 100 California Highway Patrol officers arrived to provide backup. A Sacramento Bee reporter, Michael Finch, reported that he was hit in the foot with what appeared to be a rubber bullet.

Earlier on Saturday evening, looters grabbed merchandise from Macy’s and at least a half dozen other stores after large demonstrations over police brutality had mostly ended at the Capitol and elsewhere in the city.

After a tense confrontation at the Sacramento County Main Jail, where a group had smashed the front doors earlier in the day, a small group of protesters headed south to Downtown Commons, the symbol of the central city’s rebirth, and smashed in the second-floor doors of Macy’s, a few hundred feet from Golden 1 Center.

The looters appeared to have splintered off from the main protest, which was largely non-violent — although angry and vocal — throughout the day.

A few of them were seen running out of Macy’s with merchandise at about 9:30 p.m., and the group began scattering as rumors flew that Sacramento police were en route.

Police officers in riot gear were seen heading down J Street about an hour after the looting began, and a spokeswoman said the department was “bringing in additional personnel.” Sacramento and Yolo county sheriff’s deputies were being called in to help, along with personnel from the California Highway Patrol.

Yet the looters apparently encountered no resistance from police as they made their way through downtown, smashing windows and spray-painting walls.

Someone defaced the sculpture by renowned artist Jeff Koons sculpture in the center of the DoCo plaza, scrawling “BLM” and “ACAB,” for Black Lives Matter and “All cops are bastards.” The $8 million work of art, called “Coloring Book,” is an 18-foot-tall sculpture of a piglet made from colorful, mirror-polished stainless steel and has been a fixture at the plaza since it was redeveloped in 2016.

About two dozen looters also took loads of merchandise from the Kicx Unlimited sneaker shop, across the street from DoCo, and a window was smashed at the Golden 1 Credit Union branch near the arena. A group tried and failed to break the windows at Urban Outfitters.

The group also broke into and took merchandise from Navin’s men’s clothing store at the west end of DoCo before heading toward Old Sacramento at around 9:45 p.m., leaving a trail of neckties, cuff links and more in their wake. Inside the tunnel under I-5 to Old Sacramento, they defaced the mural depicting the city’s historical leaders, writing “F--- your history” in spray paint.

Returning downtown from Old Sac, the looters began making their way down K Street, breaking into a Metro/T-mobile store. People were seen wandering the street, carrying pairs of shoes and other articles of clothing as they tried to break into more stores, and succeeded in getting into Sharif Jewelers.

“As a minority-owned business, we pride ourselves in our commitment to giving back to our community,” Sharif Jewelers said in a statement Sunday. “Sharif Jewelers will continue to support peaceful protesting. We are devastated at the destruction of our downtown store and the similar attacks on our neighbors, many of whom are minority owned family businesses. We are thankful that no one was injured and we can always rebuild. ... We are incredibly thankful for all of the support and the outpouring of love from everyone. We will come out of this stronger and more united than ever.”

Three other downtown stores were looted as the group headed east from the area around DoCo: California Loan & Jewelry, Eyes on J Optometry and a 7-Eleven. As the looters headed toward midtown, they rampaged through the BevMo store at 17th and J.

Around midnight, a squadron of police officers set up a line at 20th and J, where it appeared they were going to try to stop the group’s eastward advance. Sirens blared as a group chanted, “No justice, no peace,” one of the slogans that had been repeated throughout the day’s protests.

A group of 10 police officers was sent to the Target store on Riverside Boulevard, where some of the glass doors were broken. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone had taken anything from the store.

The Target chain, meanwhile, had already announced it would temporarily close the Riverside Boulevard store and three others in the Sacramento area as part of a shutdown of dozens of stores across the country.

Target had become a visible symbol of the nationwide protests after a store was looted during the initial rioting in Minneapolis, where the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of police sparked the wave of protests in the first place. The other stores closing in Sacramento are Madison Avenue, Cosumnes River Boulevard and Folsom.

A group of police officers was deployed to Arden Fair mall late Saturday. The mall, which has been slow to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown, said on its website that it would be closed all weekend in anticipation of “potential protests in the local area.”

Arden closed for a day in March 2018 when a group of college students staged a protest by the mall’s entrance after authorities decided not to prosecute the two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man.

As unrest over the Floyd killing spread throughout the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom late Saturday declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County and said he would deploy the National Guard there. San Francisco’s mayor London Breed announced a curfew starting Sunday evening, tweeting: “Now is the time to go home.”

Sacramento Darrell Steinberg issued a statement begging for calm.

“Destruction is the opposite of righteous protest. Sacramento’s small businesses did not cause our nation’s anguish. What we are witnessing tonight is not what Sacramento stands for. I pray this night ends safely for the peaceful protesters, our law enforcement officers, and the community we love. Please no violence or harm to anyone.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 10:09 PM.