Shooting death of man at south Sacramento apartment complex deemed ‘justifiable homicide’

A man who shot and killed another person last week at a south Sacramento apartment complex has been released after prosecutors made a preliminary decision to rule the killing a justifiable homicide, authorities said.

Sacramento sheriff’s deputies were called to the Garden Village apartments just after 12:30 a.m. Friday for a shooting in which a woman screamed for 911, according to The Sacramento Bee’s previous reporting. The incident began in the 6600 block of Sunnyslope Drive when the victim, Christopher Saunders, 35, banged on his estranged wife’s apartment door and tried to get her to come with him, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said.

The woman refused to leave, and a fight broke out between Saunders and people living in the apartment, the Sheriff’s Office said. That brawl involved a 15-year-old child, and that’s when another resident of the home fatally shot Saunders, a news release said.

Saunders was found lying on the ground when he was pronounced dead by paramedics, deputies said. The shooter legally owned the firearm, deputies added.

Prosecutors will make a final determination about the incident and whether charges are merited, the Sheriff’s Office said.