Video released of Sacramento police shooting man pointing gun at boxing event crowd
The Sacramento Police Department on Tuesday released video of one its police sergeants shooting a man who reportedly pointed a gun at a crowd gathered for a community boxing event.
Augustine Bernardo Morales, 38, died after he was shot by the Sacramento police sergeant at the warehouse in the 1600 block of Juliesse Avenue on Nov. 14.
Morales, who suffered life-threatening injuries in the police shooting, was taken by ambulance to hospital, where he was pronounced dead by medical staff, Sacramento police officials have said. Investigators found a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun near Morales, along with a partially loaded ammunition magazine, according to police.
“The department is grateful that our sergeant was on scene when the shots were fired,” Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn said in a news release Tuesday. “He ran towards these shots and likely saved numerous lives by confronting an armed suspect.”
The department released a narrated video of the shooting, a police body camera video, a police dashboard camera video, security camera video and audio recordings of dispatchers speaking to officers at the scene. Faces were blurred in the video and portions of the audio recordings were muted to ensure confidentiality and privacy for some involved, police officials said.
“Shots fired, I got one down with a gun,” the police sergeant is heard telling dispatchers in one of the audio recordings.
Jacques Houston, the organizer of the event called “Gunz Down Gloves Up: North Side Edition,” told The Sacramento Bee that he wanted to bring together youth from the area for a night of boxing. The event, modeled on a trend that has seen popularity across the country, was meant to bring awareness to gun violence and offer a healthy alternative.
About 6:30 p.m. Saturday, officers were called to the warehouse in the Cannon Industrial Park, not far from Del Paso Boulevard and the Hagginwood neighborhood, to respond to reports of reckless driving in the area.
Officers arrived and saw the large group of people at the warehouse for the boxing event. The police patrol sergeant remained in the area to conduct administrative tasks unrelated to the event, police officials said in Tuesday’s news release.
About 8 p.m., the sergeant saw a lot of people running from the building. Video from the body camera worn by the sergeant shows the crowd dispersing.
“I don’t know what’s going on, I just had a couple, maybe a hundred kids running out of here,” the sergeant radioed to dispatchers. “Whatever’s going on, nobody’s telling me. They’re just out running around. We’re going to need a couple units though, for sure.”
Another officer radioed to dispatchers: “It looks like a rave, and a number of people are bailing out of there now,” according to an audio recording.
One witness running from the warehouse told the sergeant that a Latino male had a gun, police said Tuesday. The sergeant was walking onto the property and heard gunshots fired in the area of the warehouse. Ten gunshots are heard in the sergeant’s body camera video.
Police said the sergeant ran toward the sound of gunfire and confronted the armed suspect who was pointing the gun toward the crowd inside the warehouse. The sergeant then fired his gun at the suspect, who has been identified as Morales.
The sergeant approached the man near a car and shot at him, yelling at the man to drop the gun. The body camera video shows sergeant flashing his light on the man, who is crouched on one knee.
The man told the sergeant “no ... I didn’t shoot no body. I didn’t shoot nobody.” The man then slid his gun away from him on the ground.
“Shots fired, I got one down with a gun,” the sergeant told dispatchers shortly before he asks for medical help.
Security camera video captured Morales “acting erratically and recklessly waving a firearm in the direction of the crowd,” according to Tuesday’s news release. Police officials said the security camera video also shows Morales approaching the warehouse’s open doors and “aiming his gun at the crowd” as an unknown person inside the building fired a weapon in his direction.
The security camera video shows people in the crowd hiding behind vehicles or running away to avoid getting hurt. An unknown person fired a gun from the building at Morales.
Moments later, the police sergeant arrived and shot Morales, hitting him multiple times. Three loud gunshots can be heard over the radio calls to dispatchers. The security camera video shows the sergeants shoot 10 shots in rapid succession at Morales from a distance of about 6 feet. Then, the crowd of people starts to scramble back toward the sergeant as other officers move toward the warehouse entrance to help.
Investigators have not identified the person inside the warehouse who fired the gun at Morales.
Officers searching near the warehouse that night found a person who was shot in the leg. He was taken to a hospital, and his injuries were not life-threatening, police officials have said. Investigators on Tuesday said it’s not believed this victim was hit by gunfire from the sergeant’s gun.
“There are a number of unanswered questions regarding this incident and detectives are still seeking witnesses who may have additional information,” Sgt. Sabrina Briggs, a police spokeswoman, said in Tuesday’s news release.
