Sacramento police arrest teen suspect in shooting that killed 12-year-old boy
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- Sacramento police arrested a 17-year-old suspect in a September 2024 shooting death.
- The 12-year-old boy killed in the shooting was enrolled in a Stockton school.
- Police said some type of dispute led to the deadly shooting in the Meadowview neighborhood.
Investigators on Tuesday arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of homicide in a shooting that killed a 12-year-old Sacramento boy a year ago after a dispute escalated to gunfire in the Meadowview neighborhood.
Santino Joseph Contreras was killed in the Sept. 21, 2024, shooting. In a published obituary, his family said the boy had attended school at Success Academy in Sacramento and was enrolled at Tully C. Knoles School in Stockton when the deadly shooting occurred.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for the 17-year-old suspect in the shooting, took him into custody and booked him Tuesday evening at the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall, the Sacramento Police Department said Wednesday afternoon in a news release.
Police had already arrested another teen in connection with last year’s fatal shooting. On Dec. 5 , investigators arrested a 16-year-old boy on criminal charges stemming from the September 2024 homicide.
The Police Department did not release the names of the arrested teens because they are minors.
The fatal shooting occurred shortly after 6 p.m. in the 7600 block of 22nd Street, just south of Meadowview Road in the Sacramento residential neighborhood. Contreras was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police officials have said some type of dispute occurred that led to the shooting. On Wednesday, police spokesperson Officer Allison Smith said they did not have any additional details to release about the circumstances that led to the shooting.
The boy’s family has said he loved football and participated in a tutoring program helping his peers at Howe Elementary School in Arden Arcade, one of the schools he had attended.
“At just twelve years old, Santino touched the lives of many, leaving a lasting impact on everyone he met,” Contreras’ family wrote in the online obituary. “Despite his youth, he had a remarkable ability to uplift others and bring smiles to their faces.”
