Domestic violence suspect found dead in apartment after standoff with Sacramento police
A domestic violence suspect locked since Thursday night in a standoff with Sacramento police was found dead inside his South Natomas apartment Friday morning.
Police said the man shot himself. Tactical officers who made their way into the apartment found the man’s body during their search, Sacramento police spokesman Officer Anthony Gamble told reporters late Friday morning.
“A tragic end to this incident is not what we wanted,” Gamble said. “We said we wanted the subject to come out and surrender, and let us hear his side of the story, but these are the facts and circumstances at this time.”
The man’s identity was not released pending notification of family by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office. Police will hand their investigation to county medical examiners, Gamble said.
Officers evacuated a number of residents from the complex in the 2700 block of Orchard Lane in the Willowcreek neighborhood about 8:30 p.m. Thursday as the ordeal unfolded, Gamble said.
The first officers were called to the complex near West El Camino Avenue on reports of suspected domestic violence, police said. By 10:30 p.m., officers said the suspect was barricaded in an apartment as police set up a perimeter around the area.
Gamble earlier Friday said a woman who was inside the apartment suffered injuries but was able to walk away from the residence.
Officers were “utilizing our tools and techniques to try and get the suspect to peacefully surrender,” police officials said at the time.
But the standoff would stretch into Friday as the man, believed armed with a rifle, refused to leave.
“We’ve been here all night. We’ve slowed things down. We’ve tried to communicate with the subject to get him to peacefully surrender,” Officer Anthony Gamble, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman told reporters at the scene just after 8 a.m. “The subject has refused to come out.”
A police tactical team later ferried away more residents while crisis negotiators tried to contact the suspect barricaded inside, Gamble said, adding that officers and resources from across Sacramento were called to the scene, supported by a Sacramento County Sheriff’s armored vehicle.
“Our SWAT and crisis negotiators are going to do what they do best,” Gamble told reporters earlier Friday. “They’re going to be slow and methodical and try to bring this to a peaceful resolution.”
“We want to stress upon this individual that we’re not going anywhere and that hopefully you come out and peacefully surrender with no weapons,” Gamble said. “We want to hear what this person has to say.”
But as the ordeal stretched later into Friday morning, nearly 14 hours after the initial calls to police, tactical officers made their way into the residence.
“We made the determination to go into the residence. We wanted to be methodical, be safe,” Gamble said. “We wanted to reach a peaceful resolution. We wanted to be as safe as possible, for our officers and for our community as well.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 7:44 AM.
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