Sacramento-area Halloween party shooting ‘like pandemonium’ as hundreds fled to safety
Three days after someone opened fire at a large Halloween party, Sacramento County sheriff’s investigators continued to look for those responsible for the shooting that killed two men and injured five other people.
The shooting at the Erotic Exotic Halloween Ball, which hosted at least a few hundred people at the Royal Castle Banquet Hall, appeared to be the most chaotic scene in a weekend of deadly incidents in the Sacramento area.
Fatalities over the past few days included two street vendors struck by a car in North Highlands, a pedestrian hit by a sheriff’s patrol vehicle near Elk Grove, a pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run in Natomas and another woman killed in a hit-and-run in midtown Sacramento.
There also was an early Saturday assault and robbery on two Sacramento State students near on-campus housing and a man seriously injured in a Halloween night shooting at a south Sacramento Walmart.
Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, said the aftermath of the Halloween party shooting seemed “like pandemonium” as deputies arrived and found hundreds of partygoers leaving the venue. Deputies asked everyone to stay to answer questions. Understandably, many chose to get away from the venue to safety as soon as possible, he said.
“When deputies arrive at a scene like that, you want to talk to everyone,” Grassmann told The Sacramento Bee. “There will be evidence scattered everywhere.”
He said it can be a difficult task for investigators to question as many witnesses as possible as they try to secure the scene. Crime scene investigators spent a long time collecting evidence in and around the venue, according to Grassmann.
At 12:56 a.m. Saturday, deputies were called to the reported shooting at the banquet hall at 5560 Palm Ave., just east of Garfield Avenue. The venue is adjacent to a Sheriff’s Office substation.
Grassmann said deputies arrived within a few minutes of the first 911 call reporting the shooting. He said deputies from the North Division, along with others from throughout the city, responded to the shooting.
Deputies found three men with gunshot wounds. Two were pronounced dead at the scene by medics, and the third was taken to a hospital with serious injuries but in stable condition. Later, deputies were told four others also were shot and taken to hospitals by others at the party before law enforcement arrived at the venue.
“It appeared that it was so loud, that some of (the party attendees) didn’t hear the gunshots,” Grassmann said. “This was a double-homicide that included collateral victims. There was just too many people, and certainly an awful thing to happen.”
Sheriff’s officials had not made any arrests in connection with the shooting, and investigators did not have any suspect descriptions to release.
Mom says son killed “for no reason”
One of the men struck and killed by gunfire was Terrance Long, according to his mother, Pamela Welch. She said she and her family were mourning the loss of her son, and she created a Gofundme online fundraiser to help pay for his funeral costs.
Welch said her son was shot and killed at the Halloween party “for no reason.”
“He was a hard-working young man, a heavy equipment operator, and had no ties to any gang activity etc.,” Welch wrote on the Gofundme page. “He had the biggest heart, he went out his way to help many.”
The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, as of Monday evening, had not released the names of the two men killed in the party shooting.
The Erotic Exotic Halloween Ball was planned as “a night of costumes, music and fun! Music, dancers, costume contest, food, etc.,” according to a web page promoting the event. The party was organized and promoted by Triple Threat Entertainment & Co. A promoter from Triple Threat Entertainment, who was in charge of promoting the event, did not respond to a request from The Bee to comment for this news report.
“Triple Threat invites you to an evening of drama free entertainment!! See you soon!! Bring your sexy out. Be creative! Men get creative and let’s have fun! Pasties, paint … I can’t wait!! See you soon!,” according to the web page promoting the event.
A Triple Threat Entertainment Oct. 8 Facebook post indicated presale tickets for the event were $50 each, and the price would go up on the day of the event.
Event promoters listed feature performances at the party from Sacramento artists Deano, Natho, and Boshy at the Royal Castle Banquet Hall, along with Oakland rapper All Black. An online flyer indicated the event was scheduled from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Venue worker hid under a desk
A worker at the venue, who was in the building when the shooting occurred, said he hid under a desk as he heard about three or four gunshots. The Bee has agreed not to print his name, because he was fearful of reprisals.
The Royal Castle Banquet Hall often hosts weddings, birthdays and other family celebrations. The worker said Friday’s event was the first Halloween party of its kind the venue has ever hosted.
“This was the first time and the last time,” he said. “We don’t ever want to have to deal with that situation again.”
He said promoters told the venue managers the party was for up to 350 attendees in the banquet hall, which has a maximum capacity of 400 people. He said the promoters had hired 13 armed security guards; some of them were at the hall’s front entrance patting down party attendees to search for possible weapons before they entered.
Whenever the number of people inside the hall reached 250, they would slow the number of people entering the hall, the venue worker said. Partygoers would have to wait outside before they could get in, he said, to keep the crowd from reaching capacity limits.
He said it appeared the gunfire came from outside the hall, and he was told one of the men killed in the shooting was working at the event and trying to close the hall entrance when he was struck by gunfire from outside.
“We are sorry for the two lives lost. At the end of the day, this is not the venue’s fault,” the venue worker said. “This is just a business to rent space.”
Missy Tolbert, who worked as a bartender at the party, said Long had helped them set-up at the venue, and he had nothing to do with whatever led to the shooting, CBS13 reported.
“The shooting just would never stop. It just kept going. And it was everywhere. When it stopped inside you could hear it outside. So, you didn’t want to run outside. You just didn’t feel safe,” Tolbert told CBS13. “And everyone was trying to hide everywhere. There’s people holding the bathrooms doors closed because they’re trying to hide. Everyone’s trying to protect themselves.”
Adriana Lebourveau, who was one of the party attendees, also said it appeared there was gunfire inside the banquet hall, KCRA3 reported.
“It was really weird, it felt like it was in slow motion. One went off and it just went dead silent and you could just hear screaming and running,” Lebourveau told KCRA3. “There was a pause in between each one, and it started from inside and it slowly worked its way out.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
