Sacramento police say officer shot man brandishing weapon in River District
Sacramento police shot a man Tuesday morning after responding to reports of a person waving a firearm in the River District, according to authorities.
The officer-involved shooting occurred around 9:13 a.m. on the 200 block of North 16th Street, police said. Officers had been dispatched about four minutes earlier after a 911 caller reported a man waving a handgun in the street and pointing it at people near the 200 block of North B Street.
According to a department statement released Monday evening, officers arriving on scene saw what appeared to be a firearm in the man’s pocket. Police said their officers gave the suspect multiple commands not to reach for the weapon and to move to the sidewalk, but the man did not comply and instead walked toward the officers, telling them to shoot him.
When the man pulled the weapon from his pocket, “three officers fired their handguns, and the suspect was struck,” the agency said.
Officers rendered emergency medical aid until the Sacramento Fire Department transported him to a hospital, where he remained in “critical but stable” condition.
Police recovered the firearm, “which was later determined to be an imitation,” police said.
No officers were injured during the incident. Once medically cleared, police said the unidentified man would be booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail.
The shooting prompted a seven-hour closure of North 16th Street between North A and North C streets.
Tuesday’s encounter marked the second officer-involved shooting by Sacramento police this month involving a suspect carrying what appeared to be a weapon.
On May 2, officers shot and wounded 37-year-old Johnny Balcorta near Robert T. Matsui Waterfront Park after being called out on a report of domestic violence. Police said Balcorta fled with what appeared to be a firearm and refused to comply with officers’ commands before they opened fire. Officers later recovered two imitation firearms at the scene.
Balcorta was hospitalized for more than a week before being booked into jail, where he remains held without bail. He was expected to appear in court Wednesday on misdemeanor charges stemming from that incident; he was also being held on a previous felony charge of narcotics possession.
As with previous cases, the officers involved in Tuesday’s shooting were expected to be placed on critical incident leave.
The department said in its release its Homicide Unit, Internal Affairs Division, Force Investigation Team and Professional Standards Unit were conducting the investigation, with oversight from the city’s Office of Public Safety Accountability and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Police were also expected to release video from body-worn and patrol car cameras, as mandated by the City Council’s policy on police use of force and Senate Bill 1421, which requires disclosure of police records pertaining to incidents of great bodily injury within 30 days of an incident.
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 10:46 AM.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story incorrectly identified the location of the incident and a nearby business.
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