Murder conviction for Sacramento drive-by shooting that targeted man on his front porch
A jury on Tuesday convicted a man for a drive-by shooting last year that killed a Sacramento resident who was targeted as he stood on the front porch of his East Del Paso Heights home.
Devonte Lee White, 30, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of 30-year-old Matthew Salas-Keen, the Sacramento County District District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday in a news release. White also was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, along with an enhancement to the murder charge for firing a gun from a vehicle and causing death.
Prosecutors said the deadly shooting stemmed from a confrontation two weeks before the homicide when White got into an argument with a group of people the victim was with at the time.
The confrontation occurred at a market near Salas-Keen’s home. Prosecutors said White left the market and returned with a gun that he brandished while confronting Salas-Keen. The fatal shooting occurred two weeks later, on Jan. 25, 2022, in the 3700 block of Dayton Street, just south of Grand Avenue.
That night, security camera video showed a vehicle passing Salas-Keen, who was on his front porch. The vehicle made a U-turn and passed Salas-Keen’s home a second time before backing up.
Prosecutors said the vehicle’s driver then shot Salas-Keen at point-blank range. The victim was shot at eight times; three of the bullets struck him.
About 2:15 a.m., Sacramento police officers were called to Dayton Street for the reported shooting. The officers arrived at the scene and found Salas-Keen wounded by gunfire. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, police said.
Investigators found a stolen handgun at White’s apartment, and the District Attorney’s Crime Lab matched the firearm to expended shell casings found at the scene and in the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting, prosecutors said.
Traces of White’s DNA were found on the gun used to kill Salas-Keen, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
White was arrested Feb. 24, 2022, on suspicion of homicide in Salas-Keen’s death. He had already been in jail custody since Feb. 2, 2022, on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon.
On Wednesday, White remained in custody at the Sacramento County Jail. He will remain at the jail until Sept. 8, when he is scheduled to return to Sacramento Superior Court for his sentencing hearing. Prosecutors said White faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the chance for parole.
