Sacramento man gets 63 years to life in prison for Carmichael rampage that killed pedestrian
A Sacramento man was sentenced to 63 years to life in prison for a 2021 rampage in Carmichael, where he fatally struck a pedestrian with a pickup and injured three other people before a citizen shot him.
Jorge Armando Zepeda, 44, was sentenced on Friday for the deadly rampage. A jury on Oct. 24 found Zepeda guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, found counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Rodney Hallett, 69, was the pedestrian hit by the black pickup shortly after 9 a.m. on June 21, 2021, at the intersection of Manzanita Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard near a Safeway shopping center. Hallett died from his injuries.
Prosecutors said a woman got out of her car to help Hallett, but Zepeda hit her with his pickup as he tried to run over Hallett a second time. Sacramento County sheriff’s officials have said the pickup had “circled back” and hit the bystander.
Zepeda then drove away and turned west, where the pickup “rear-ended another vehicle” near the 5600 block of Cypress Avenue just east of Garfield Avenue, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The pickup pushed the car about 100 yards.
Prosecutors said Zepeda’s pickup rear-ended a Volkswagen Jetta, before he got out hit the Volkswagen’s driver with a tire iron. Sheriff’s officials said that victim was able to escape and run away from the suspect.
A couple who heard the vehicle crash on Cypress Avenue went there to help the Volkswagen’s driver. Prosecutors said Zepeda assaulted the husband with the tire iron then took a gun away from the husband and shot him in the head. The gunshot victim survived his injuries.
Prosecutors said Zepeda then assaulted the man’s wife with the firearm, before the wife used her own gun to shoot Zepeda. The suspect was held at gunpoint until deputies arrived and took him into custody.
Sheriff’s officials have said this final confrontation with Zepeda occurred near a trailer in a nearby parking lot of the Carmichael Elks Lodge. After Zepeda shot the man, his wife got out of the trailer with her own gun and shot Zepeda in the upper body.
About a week after the Carmichael rampage, Zepeda was booked at the Sacramento County Mail Jail after receiving medical treatment for injuries. On Monday, Zepeda remained in custody at the jail awaiting transfer to a prison.
Zepeda’s conviction included enhancements for using a deadly weapon, the pickup, and using a gun to commit the crimes. Prosecutors said Zepeda had a previous voluntary manslaughter conviction.
