‘This is not a random event’: Victim, suspected gunman killed in Sacramento-area shootings
.jpg "Detectives on Monday night April 18, 2022, were investigating the shooting deaths of two men after a victim was gunned down at Fair Oaks Park and the suspected gunman was chased down and killed in Citrus Heights, California.")
Detectives on Monday night were investigating the shooting deaths of two men in Sacramento County after one of them was killed in front of a group of people at Fair Oaks Park and the suspected gunman was chased down by someone else with a gun.
Shortly before 6 p.m., 911 operators received multiple calls reporting shots fired at the park at 11549 Fair Oaks Boulevard, just west of the Sacramento Public Library Fair Oaks branch and south of Madison Avenue. A group of at least 20 men were gathered at the park playing volleyball or soccer when gunfire erupted.
A man walked up to the group, pulled out a gun and fired gunshots, targeting one of the men at the park, said Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s spokesman. The victim was later pronounced dead at the park. Grassmann said the suspected gunman then ran through the park, heading north across Madison Avenue.
The second shooting occurred in front of an apartment complex in Citrus Heights after the suspected gunman was chased down Madison Avenue by at least one armed person who shot him multiple times, said Lt. Jason Baldwin, a Citrus Heights Police Department spokesman.
The wounded man in the Citrus Heights shooting was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“This is not a random event, these people know each other,” Baldwin said. “We’re still investigating how they know each other and why this occurred.”
The two law enforcement agencies were investigating the shooting, since the first fatal shooting occurred at the park in the sheriff’s jurisdiction and the other occurred across Madison Avenue in Citrus Heights.
“There was a lot of people here (at the park),” Grassmann said. “We have got many witnesses here, more than 20, 25 witnesses that we’re talking to. There’s ample eyewitnesses to this.”
Despite having so many witnesses at the shooting scene, investigators did not release any suspect description of the gunman in the Citrus Heights shooting.
“A lot of people in the park, a lot of different statements to decipher, and the detectives were still sifting through that right now,” Baldwin said.
Grassmann asked anyone who witnessed the shooting but left before speaking to investigators to call one of the law enforcement agencies, and some had already come forward with information Monday night.
Baldwin said the westbound lane of Madison Avenue would remained closed for several hours for the safety of the detectives working at the crime scene nearby.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this fatal shooting to call the Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-5115 or Citrus Heights police at 916-727-5524.
