Man gets prison for deadly shooting at Sacramento County shopping center
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- Judge sentenced Hayden Petersen to 45 years to life in prison for the 2020 shooting
- Petersen fired multiple gunshots during a drug deal and chased victim to a parking lot.
- The jury in November found Petersen guilty of first-degree murder.
A judge on Friday sentenced a man to 45 years to life in prison for a deadly shooting five years ago that left the victim slumped over in the driver’s seat of a car in the parking lot of a Sacramento County shopping center.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge David Bonilla sentenced Hayden Michael Petersen, 26, for the shooting death of Eduardo Kennedy, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
A jury on Nov. 12 found Petersen guilty of first-degree murder along with an enhancement for using a gun in the shooting at the shopping center in the 7400 block of Watt Avenue in North Highlands, just south of Antelope.
On Oct. 20, 2020, Petersen met with Kennedy, 24, of Sacramento in a rural area of Antelope for an illegal drug deal, prosecutors said. The District Attorney’s Office did not specify which drugs were for sale that day.
Prosecutors said Petersen pulled out a gun and fired at Kennedy, who was sitting in his car. Kennedy was hit by gunfire multiple times, but the wounded man was able to drive away.
Petersen chased Kennedy to the shopping center parking lot, where he fired more gunshots at Kennedy and killed him, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Kennedy was found after several callers reported shots fired and a vehicle struck by gunfire in the parking lot, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s officials said deputies arrived at the scene and spotted Kennedy slumped over in the driver’s seat. Medics arrived shortly after and pronounced Kennedy dead at the scene.
Kennedy was found in the strip mall’s parking lot behind the wheel of a red Dodge Charger near a Carl’s Jr. near the intersection of Watt Avenue and Antelope Road. The car had three bullet holes in the windshield as it sat in the parking lot that morning.
Prosecutors said sheriff’s investigators later identified Petersen as the shooting suspect and arrested him. Petersen was booked Nov. 19, 2020 at the Sacramento County Main Jail, where he remained in custody Monday awaiting transfer to a prison.
At the time Petersen’s arrest was announced, sheriff’s officials said Enrique Medina Martinez was also arrested in connection with Kennedy’s death. Prosecutors later formally charged Martinez with murder in the North Highlands shooting.
On the same day the jury convicted Petersen in November, a mistrial was declared in Martinez’s case, court records show. During a settlement conference in court three days later, Martinez’s case was dismissed.
The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the murder charge filed against Martinez, according to the DA’s Office. Prosecutors then decided not to seek a second trial against Martinez.
This story was originally published July 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM.
