Update: Police shoot suspect in Old North Sacramento after officer hit by carjacked vehicle
Two Sacramento Police officers fired their guns at a man who was wounded Thursday morning in Old North Sacramento as he drove away in a carjacked vehicle believed to have struck an officer.
The suspect, later identified as 32-year-old Clayton Freeman, suffered at least one gunshot wound and was hospitalized Thursday afternoon with injuries not considered life-threatening, said Sgt. Zach Eaton, a department spokesman. Freeman will be booked at the Sacramento County Jail once he’s medically cleared.
Eaton said the officer who was struck by the vehicle was hospitalized after suffering moderate injuries. He’s expected to recover, Eaton said. By Thursday evening, the officer had been released from the hospital.
The incident unfolded Wednesday morning just after 9:30 when the Police Department received a report of a carjacking in the 100 block of Stanford Avenue, several blocks east of where the police shooting occurred Thursday. The victim told police that a masked suspect forcibly stole their vehicle and drove away, according to a Sacramento police news release issued Thursday night.
Eaton said the department had a description of the carjacked vehicle, and an officer spotted it about 9:45 a.m. Thursday in the area of the 600 block of El Camino Avenue at Cantalier Street.
The stolen vehicle was parked along the curb, and the officer saw a man inside the vehicle. Eaton said it was unclear whether the man inside the vehicle was responsible for Wednesday’s carjacking. He did not know the make and model of the carjacked vehicle.
The officer approached the vehicle, and Eaton said the man was “non-compliant” from the outset of his interaction with police.
The suspect continued to ignore the officer’s “commands,” and the officer used a Taser multiple times in an attempt to take him into custody, according to the police news release. But the Taser was ineffective.
Additional officers arrived to help detain the suspect, but it was unclear how many. A struggle ensued between police and the suspect.
As the struggle continued, the suspect began driving away with the first officer at the scene still in the vehicle’s door frame, police said.
The suspect drove away and struck another officer and his vehicle, which injured that officer’s leg, police said. The carjacked vehicle then “rammed” a second patrol vehicle, before it reversed and struck a police vehicle for the third time, according to the news release.
Then, the two officers fired their department-issued guns at the driver, Eaton said.
The suspect drove away and was found wounded at a hospital. The carjacked vehicle was found in the 500 Block of Las Palmas Avenue, several blocks north of the police shooting.
Investigators believe there were no other suspects involved in the shooting.
Investigators said that there might have been people in the area who recorded video of the incident before the police shooting occurred. Eaton asked anyone with video of the incident to submit the footage to the Police Department to use as part of its investigation, to be “transparent” with the public about what led to the shooting.
Eaton said he did not have any information indicating the suspect was armed with a weapon during the confrontation with police.
“They’re very comprehensive investigations that take a lot of time to work through,” Eaton said. “We have a lot of questions as I’m sure the community does, as well. We’ll be working through the investigation to get those questions answered.”
Investigators from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office were at the scene, along with representatives from the city’s Office of Public Safety Accountability, which provides oversight in police shooting investigations.
Motorists were asked to avoid the area, and El Camino Avenue was closed to vehicle traffic between Del Paso Boulevard and Fairfield Street. Investigators had been expected to remain at the scene at least through the afternoon commute.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 10:10 AM.
