Federal judge decides whether to keep ABC10 Sacramento shooting suspect in jail
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Federal judge ordered Anibal Hernandez Santana to remain in jail.
- Prosecutors revealed details of a school visit three days before the shooting.
- Authorities allege the shooting at ABC10 was politically motivated and premeditated.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered a man accused of shooting at the ABC10 TV station last week in Sacramento to remain in jail as he faces criminal charges in court.
Anibal Hernandez Santana, 64, of Sacramento faces several felonies stemming from the shooting in separate cases in federal and local superior court.
The accused man, a retired lobbyist, returned Thursday afternoon to federal court for a detention hearing to determine whether he should remain behind bars while awaiting prosecution.
The Sacramento Police Department initially arrested Hernandez Santana on the local criminal charges, before he was released from the jail after posting a $200,000 bail bond Saturday afternoon. The FBI arrested Hernandez Santana several hours later after investigators served a search warrant at his home.
Nearby school staff ‘frightened’
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Wong argued that Hernandez Santana clearly demonstrated the danger he poses to the public last week, when he stood in a nearby school zone and fired a gunshot into the air shortly before driving around the block to fire three gunshots into the lobby of the ABC10 building.
The ABC10 building is near Leataata Floyd Elementary School and Health Professions High School. In a filed motion seeking to keep Hernandez Santana in jail, the prosecutor said the defendant went into the main office of a different nearby school in the Land Park area three days before the shooting.
Hernandez Santana was wearing “military-looking pants, an army cap and dark sunglasses” and appeared “weird” and “anxious” when he asked a school employee if he could read to the children, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento. The school employee denied Hernandez Santana’s request, telling him he needed authorization from administrative staff.
The prosecutor said Hernandez Santana left a note for a manager in which he stated, “I would like to read to young students in my spare time.” Then, he left the campus.
Wong said school staff, “frightened” after seeing news coverage of Hernandez Santana’s pending criminal cases, reported the incident on Wednesday to the FBI. He said school employees are “scared” for their students and staff if the defendant is released from jail.
“The circumstances of Hernandez Santana’s visit to that elementary school on September 16 are both unusual and concerning,” Wong said in his filed motion. “This behavior is consistent with pre-attack site surveillance, which is a recognized indicator of an active shooter’s planning and preparation activities.”
Sutterville Elementary School
The Sacramento City Unified School District confirmed that the Sept. 16 incident involving Hernandez Santana occurred at Sutterville Elementary School. Campus staff informed the school principal more than a week after it occurred.
“We recognize how frightening and concerning this news must be for families, which is why it’s important to emphasize that there was never any direct threat to the Sutterville campus and nothing that warranted a call to law enforcement until well after the incident had occurred at the ABC 10 building,” the school district said in a statement.
Mark Reichel, Hernandez Santana’s attorney, told the judge that his client had once taught Spanish at the school and is known to some campus staff. He didn’t know the employee he spoke with Sept. 16.
The attorney argued there’s nothing to indicate his client wanted anything more than to read to students there, and he even left behind a note with his name and phone number.
“There was nothing “frightening’ at the time for them to call law enforcement,” Reichel said in court.
He said Hernandez Santana has no previous arrests, and he asked the federal to release his client pending trial. Reichel offered to surrender Hernandez Santana’s passport and have his client placed on house arrest and under GPS monitoring.
Judge Chi Soo Kim said it wasn’t enough to ensure the public’s safety and ordered Hernandez Santana to remain in custody. The judge said the court can hold another detetion hearing if new information is presented.
Hernandez Santana has only spoken briefly in court. On Wednesday evening, he spoke to a Sacramento TV station in a jailhouse interview.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with my life, going forward, but I am not a violent man,” he told CBS13.
Hernandez Santana faces federal charges of willfully or maliciously interfering with or causing interference to any radio communications of any station and possessing a firearm within a school zone and firing a gun within a school zone, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
If convicted of the federal charges, Hernandez Santana could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
“America is a nation that is held together by the rule of law,” Reichel said at a news conference Thursday. “And under the rule of law, my client is innocent until 12 people inside this building find beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s no longer innocent. So, the rule of law has to be paramount.”
No Superior Court arraignment
Hernandez Santana was scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon for his arraignment on state charges in Sacramento Superior Court. For the second time this week, Judge Benjamin Cassady postponed the arraignment because Hernandez Santana remains under a federal custody hold.
Cassady postponed the arraignment until Oct. 16. He told the attorneys it will be up to them to determine what needs to be done to get Hernandez Santana in Superior Court.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has charged Hernandez Santana with firing a gun into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm. If convicted of these state charges, Hernandez Santana could face a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison.
The shooting occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m. last Friday at the ABC10 TV station in the 400 block of Broadway in Sacramento’s Upper Land Park neighborhood. It came a day after about 15 protesters held a demonstration outside the TV station to denounce a network decision to take “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air following remarks Kimmel made related to Kirk’s murder.
The ABC network, which is owned by Disney, was criticized for its decision to halt production of Kimmel’s late night show. The show returned to the airwaves in most markets Tuesday night.
There were no protesters outside the TV station when the shooting occurred Friday, and no injuries were reported. Police have said there were people inside the ABC10 offices when three gunshots pierced a window on the north side of the building.
ABC10 (KXTV) is owned by Tegna, a national chain of TV stations spun off by Gannett a decade ago. Nexstar Media Group, the owner of Fox 40 and nearly 200 stations coast to coast, recently announced it would acquire Tegna. The move would require FCC approval for the transfer of Tegna’s broadcasting licenses.
