Homicides drop in Sacramento County, capital region in 2025. These are the stats
The number of homicide deaths in Sacramento County in 2025 fell to the lowest level in decades, according to Sacramento County Sheriff’s officials, and declines were similar across the capital region, based on data collected and reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.
The agency, which patrols unincorporated areas of the county, investigated 18 homicide deaths in 2025 after ending the previous year with 37 homicides — a 54% decrease. The agency investigated 38 homicides in 2023 and 39 in 2022.
The 18 homicides investigated by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office in 2025 were the fewest since the 1980s, said Lt. Amar Gandhi, a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
One of those, the death of a teen fatally stabbed by a Sacramento Regional Transit ambassador during an altercation outside a Rancho Cordova station in June, was in Sacramento Regional Transit’s jurisdiction, Gandhi said, and investigated by the Sheriff’s Office, which has since taken over full law enforcement duties on the transit network. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office in November declined to file criminal charges in the death, concluding there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges.
The number “represents at least a 40-year low dating back to 1985,” Gandhi said. “We are continuing to work on compiling additional historical data, but this reduction is significant.”
The Sacramento Bee compiled the numbers of homicide deaths in the four-county Sacramento region for the 2025 calendar year using the number of cases handled in each jurisdiction as part of the newspaper’s annual count.
“This historic drop did not happen by accident,” Gandhi said.
Sacramento sheriff’s officials said gang suppression efforts and the seizure of hundreds of illegal weapons from the county’s neighborhoods were key to reducing the number of deaths. The Sheriff’s Office has the only gang suppression unit in the region, Gandhi said, adding that Sheriff Jim Cooper “has remained committed to maintaining a robust, dedicated gang unit.”
Nearly 400 illegal weapons were seized by sheriff’s gang deputies, Gandhi said, “preventing countless shootings and potential homicides.” The sheriff’s office recorded no gang-related homicides in 2025, Gandhi said.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” he said.
The number of victims elsewhere killed in homicides in which criminality was determined to be an element in the death also fell noticeably, according to figures provided to and tallied by The Bee.
The Sacramento Police Department recorded 36 homicide deaths, 20% fewer than the 45 in 2024, a total that was revised after several victims died in 2025 from crimes committed in prior years. Police investigated 38 homicides in 2023 and 54 in 2022, according to department data.
Elsewhere in Sacramento County, the Elk Grove Police Department recorded seven homicide deaths across five incidents in 2025, up from four in 2024. Citrus Heights recorded two homicides, according to The Bee’s review. Galt recorded one homicide. Other agencies in Sacramento County reported none.
Galt Police Department on Tuesday announced the arrest of a Galt man in the 2025 death of his 7-month-old daughter, the city’s sole homicide. UC Davis Medical Center told Galt Police Department in August of the suspected child abuse involving an infant being treated for severe head injuries. The child died from her injuries at the Sacramento hospital in September, Galt detectives said.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported five homicides at its two facilities in Sacramento County — three at California State Prison, Sacramento and two at Folsom State Prison.
The California Highway Patrol’s Valley Division, which investigated one homicide in Sacramento County, did not respond to The Bee’s request for information.
Based on preliminary information from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, gun violence accounted for the majority of homicide deaths in the county in 2025. Forty-three victims were killed by gunshot wounds, while 11 deaths involved blunt force trauma and 10 victims were killed in stabbings. Two deaths involved strangulation and three were attributed to other causes.
Of the 70 homicide victims tallied in Sacramento County, 26 people were between the ages of 26 and 40, the largest age group at 37%. Another 17 victims (24%) were ages 18 to 25, while 16 were between 41 and 65. Five victims (7%) were under 18 and five were older than 65.
By a 4-to-1 margin, the majority of victims were men. Fifty-seven of the 70 homicide victims were male, while 12 were female. Based on the coroner’s data, Black victims accounted for a third of homicide deaths in the county in 2025. White victims made up about 26%, Hispanic victims accounted for 17%, and Asian and Pacific Islander victims represented about 6% of the total number of those who were killed.
Agencies across Sacramento’s surrounding counties also had fewer reported homicide deaths last year.
Placer County’s coroner division recorded five homicides across the county in 2025, half of the eight recorded in 2024.
Roseville police said it investigated three of the homicide deaths, including last month’s death of a 7-year-old girl who police say had suffered repeated abuse inside her home. The girls’ mother, Jessica Savangsy, 26, and her partner, Retuquel Dupree, 27 — a former police officer — have been charged with murder in connection with the case, which also left the girl’s 5-year-old sister injured.
Placer County Sheriff’s Office investigated one homicide in its jurisdiction in 2025, down from four the previous year. One homicide was reported by Rocklin officers, the same number as in 2024. Auburn Police Department investigated no homicides in 2025, said department officials.
El Dorado sheriff’s officials said its agency investigated all five of the homicide deaths that occurred in the county in 2025, which was three more than the previous year; Placerville and South Lake Tahoe reported none.
The West Sacramento Police Department reported three homicide deaths for the year, which were the total tallied by The Bee in Yolo County. That was down 63% from the previous year when eight homicide deaths were investigated.
How The Bee tallied these figures
The Sacramento Bee compiled its annual homicide totals using its own reporting and information requested from all law enforcement agencies in the four-county Sacramento region, as well as from the counties’ coroner offices. Reported deaths were cross-referenced with prior Bee coverage and reporting from other news outlets.
Not every death classified as a homicide by coroners or law enforcement agencies was included in The Bee’s totals. While homicide is broadly defined as the killing of one person by another, The Bee counted only cases in which an unlawful criminal act was believed to be or determined to be a factor in the death.
Deaths were included only if both the crime and the resulting death occurred during the 2025 calendar year. In some instances, coroners ruled deaths in 2025 as homicides even though the underlying crimes occurred years earlier. Those cases were excluded from the 2025 tally, and The Bee revised prior-year counts as additional information became available.
Cases in which prosecutors declined to file charges because of self-defense, lack of evidence or other legal determinations were excluded. Officer-involved shootings were not counted. Deaths resulting from murder-suicide incidents were counted only once, with the victim included and the person who died by suicide excluded.
Homicide totals reflect the number of victims, not incidents. In cases involving multiple victims, each victim was counted individually to reflect the total number of lives lost.
Cases that remained under investigation at the end of the year were included when law enforcement agencies indicated a criminal element was believed to be involved. Those figures may change as investigations and charging decisions continue.
The Bee also included homicides that occurred inside jails and prisons when authorities determined criminal conduct played a role in the death.
Juvenile victims were counted the same as adults. Sacramento County reported five juvenile homicide victims in 2025, and agencies in El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties each reported one.
In most cases, agencies provided the requested data. In instances where information was not shared, The Bee relied on publicly available records, police logs, agency statements and prior reporting to verify information.
The Bee’s Daniel Hunt contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
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