Man who shot, killed Sacramento security guard during 2022 robbery is sentenced to prison

A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced the man who shot and killed a Capitol Casino security guard to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Dawan Pecot, 38, was convicted in November of first-degree murder with an allegation of using a personal firearm causing death and a special circumstances of murdering a person while committing robbery in the August 2022 incident, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. He was also found guilty of second-degree robbery with the allegations of personally using a firearm and intentionally discharging a firearm.

Security guard Sean Bernal caught Pecot trying to rob the card room, located on North 16th Street in Sacramento’s River District, and walked him out of the establishment with a taser.

But the defendant went back inside the casino and pointed a gun at another casino employee, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Bernal returned and tried to tase Pecot but the defendant fatally shot him one time in the neck, prosecutors said.

Pecot, who was sentenced Friday, took more than $38,000 and fled the establishment while being chased by another casino employee. He jumped out of his vehicle when police arrived and fired one gunshot toward a casino employee, prosecutors said. Police apprehended Pecot as he tried to run away.