Sacramento police detectives arrest homicide suspect in New Year’s Day shooting
Sacramento police detectives arrested a suspect on a homicide charge in the New Year’s Day shooting of a 37-year-old man near a gas station at a busy intersection.
Emiliano Antonio Velasco, 18, was arrested and booked Wednesday night at the Sacramento County Jail, where he remained in custody Thursday. He was being held without bail and is scheduled to make his first appearance Friday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court.
The detectives continued investigating the fatal shooting over the past two months and identified Velasco as the suspect in the death of Leonard Demars Johnson, the Sacramento Police Department announced Thursday in social media posts.
Johnson was struck by gunfire about 1 p.m. on Jan. 1 next to a Shell gas station on the southwest corner of the Florin Road and Franklin Boulevard intersection in Sacramento’s Parkway neighborhood.
Officers responded to the area for a report of a shooting and found a man — later identified as Johnson of Sacramento — who had suffered at least one gunshot wound. Medics arrived and pronounced Johnson dead at the scene.
At the time, police said the shooting suspect had fled the scene.
The Police Department has not discloses the circumstances of the shooting, but homicide detectives were called to investigate at least one car, a compact sedan, with shattered glass that was on the road.
Jail records show Velasco faces three felony charges in a separate case, which include being a convicted felon in possession of firearm, possession of an assault weapon and committing a felony while out on bail. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of illegal transportation of a gun in a vehicle.
