Authorities release name of Sacramento man fatally shot by CHP; new details on I-80 incident
Authorities this week released the name of a Sacramento man who was shot to death by California Highway Patrol officers along Interstate 80 in Solano County last weekend.
Karl Walker, 29, died from injuries he suffered after he was shot by CHP officers on Jan. 30 near Dixon, according to the Solano County District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities say the officers shot Walker after he brandished a loaded gun, threatening their safety. Walker’s family says he ran out of gas and needed help that night.
Around 10:30 p.m., the CHP Solano Area Office received several 911 calls reporting a single-vehicle crash along I-80, just west of the Dixon Avenue exit. The CHP officers responded to assist and investigate the reported crash, according to a news release issued Monday the District Attorney’s Office.
Some drivers on I-80 stopped along the road to help. Prosecutors said the driver of the vehicle in the crash, later identified as Walker, appeared intoxicated. As the CHP officers headed to the crash, they received updated information that it appeared the driver may have been driving under the influence.
The officers arrived and spotted a vehicle about 20 feet off the roadway down an embankment. The vehicle’s back window was shattered with a significant amount of glass missing.
Then, the officers saw Walker getting out of the vehicle’s driver’s seat, so they tried to talk to Walker and check to see if he was OK, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Walker displayed symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol and “appeared evasive” with the officers, keeping one of his hands in his sweatpants, prosecutors said Friday in an update on the investigation.
When the officers asked Walker to show his hands, Walker told the officers, “I’m not going to do that,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Walker then pulled out a loaded 9 mm handgun, and the officers repeatedly ordered Walker to drop the gun. They said Walker refused to drop the weapon.
Walker, in close proximity to both officers, then pointed the handgun at one of the officers, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
“The officers responded to the threat by discharging their firearms,” prosecutors said in Friday’s news release.
The CHP officers began life-saving measures, but Walker died from his injuries. On Friday, a coroner’s report and a pathologist’s report in Walker’s death were still pending.
Walker’s family said he ran out of gas and needed help. CBS13 reported that his family says information about the incident was being withheld from them.
The recently formed Solano County Major Crimes Task Force also responded that night and is conducting an independent investigation of the shooting, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The task force investigation is part of a countywide protocol now used to investigate deaths involving police.
Once the task force’s investigation is completed, the investigation will be submitted to the District Attorney’s for final review to determine the “presence or absence of criminal liability on the part of those involved” in the fatal shooting, prosecutors said.
The District Attorney’s Office says there would be no further details released until the final review of the investigation concluded, which should happen within the next 90 days.
Investigators asked anyone with information to call the Solano County Major Crimes Task Force at 707-784-1828.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:29 PM.
