Sacramento police: It’s possible Lampasas Avenue fatal shooting victims shot each other
Detectives continued their investigation of a shooting in Old North Sacramento in which it’s possible the two men who died shot each other Monday afternoon in a violent confrontation.
The shooting was reported about 1:20 p.m. in the 800 block of Lampasas Avenue, between Beaumont Street and Rio Linda Boulevard. Officers arrived and found both men seriously wounded. They were taken by ambulance to a hospital where they were pronounced dead.
The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office has released the names of Javonte Dijon Bernard Johnson, 30 of Citrus Heights and Dalano Terrell Cooper, 24, of Rancho Cordova, who were the two men killed in the shooting. The information from the Coroner’s Office indicates that Johnson and Cooper were both fatally wounded by gunfire at the same apartment building on Lampasas near a vacant lot just east of Beaumont.
Homicide detectives were looking into the possibility that the two men shot each other, said Sgt. Zach Eaton, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman. They don’t believe anyone else was responsible for the shooting.
“We don’t think there are any outstanding suspects (in the shooting),” Eaton said. “We’re following the evidence where it leads us in this investigation.”
Eaton declined to say what exactly led detectives to believe the men might have shot each other, fearing discussing those specifics could harm the ongoing investigation.
The North Sacramento area has seen a recent spate of gun violence, including a drive-by shooting late Tuesday on Clay Street in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood where a woman and a man were killed. The Coroner’s Office has not yet released their names. Police said on Wednesday that investigators did not have any suspect information to release.
Seven people — all adults — suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a late-night shooting on June 7, also in Del Paso Heights area. Two victims were found near the 1600 block of Grand Avenue, and the five others were found at a nearby hospital.
And on the night of May 13, four people — including a 10-year-old boy and a 12-month-old girl — were wounded in a brazen shooting in Old North Sacramento. Security cameras captured three unidentified men walking up to the Sunland Liquor, looking at a group around the corner and then firing shots before running away. The victims suffered gunshot wounds that were not considered life-threatening.
Investigators asked anyone with information about either of this week’s fatal shootings to call officers at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the P3 Tips website and app.
This story was originally published June 15, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
