Sacramento man suspected in deadly Carmichael rampage arrested on homicide charge
Authorities have arrested a Sacramento man injured in a rampage last week in Carmichael after reportedly hitting two people with a pickup before ramming a vehicle and attacking two other people with a gun and what appeared to be a crowbar, sheriff’s officials said.
Jorge Armando Zepeda, 39, was booked at the Sacramento County Jail Monday after receiving medical treatment for injuries he suffered after he was shot by a citizen, which ended the violent incident last week.
Zepeda was arrested on suspicion of homicide, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of attempted homicide, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Tuesday.
One of the pedestrians struck by the pickup on Manzanita Avenue near Fair Oaks Boulevard died from injuries suffered in the hit-and-run incident. The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office has had difficulties notifying the pedestrian’s family, so the pedestrian’s name has not been released.
Two other people suffered injuries during the Carmichael rampage and were taken to a hospital for treatment. Another victim declined medical treatment at a hospital.
Zepeda remained in custody at the jail Tuesday, where he was being held without bail. He’s scheduled to make his first appearance in Sacramento Superior Court on Wednesday.
The chaotic incident began about 9 a.m. June 21, when a black pickup was spotted driving erratically, “up on sidewalks (and) jumping curbs,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Rodney Grassmann said.
The pickup struck a pedestrian on Manzanita, just north of Fair Oaks Boulevard near a Safeway shopping center. That pedestrian died. A bystander went to help the pedestrian. Grassmann said the pickup “circled back” and struck the bystander, too.
The pickup left and turned west onto Cypress Avenue. The pickup then “rear-ended another vehicle” near the 5600 block of Cypress, between Garfield Avenue and Hackberry Lane, according to Grassmann. The pickup reportedly pushed the other vehicle about 100 yards.
The suspect, who was later identified by authorities as Zepeda, got out of the pickup holding what appeared to be a crowbar and started beating that vehicle and the driver, Grassmann said during a news conference last week.
The victim escaped and ran from the suspect, before a security guard in the area gave the victim refuge in his vehicle.
Grassmann said Zepeda then brandished a gun and approached a trailer parked in a nearby parking lot of the Carmichael Elks Lodge. A male got out of the trailer and was involved in a struggle with Zepeda over the gun, which fired. Grassmann said the fourth victim was injured, but it was unclear to him whether that person was shot or hit with the crowbar.
Another person believed to be related to the fourth victim then got out of the trailer with a gun, shot Zepeda in the upper body and ended the incident, according to Grassmann.
The Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol arrested Zepeda on the day of the incident, but the Sheriff’s Office did not release Zepeda’s name until after he was released from the hospital and booked at the jail. The Sheriff’s Office investigated the attack and shooting on Cypress, and the CHP investigated the hit-and-run on Manzanita.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 11:35 AM.
