California inmate shot, killed by guard at New Folsom; second prison death in two days
California corrections officials are investigating the death of an inmate who was fatally shot by a correctional officer after he refused to stop choking another inmate during a prison fight.
Officials say the man, Mario Rushing, 46, was fighting with another inmate and choking him about 6 p.m. Monday before prison staff ordered Rushing to stop. Officers used chemical agents and “less-lethal measures” to try and break up the fight, but Rushing wouldn’t let go, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release.
After the second man appeared to lose consciousness and go limp, one officer fired his Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle at Rushing, CDCR said. Prison authorities have placed the officer on administrative leave pending investigation; they declined to identify him.
Rushing was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead shortly after 7 p.m. The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office will determine the official cause of death. The second inmate was treated on-site and no other injuries were reported.
“An inmate-manufactured weapon was recovered at the scene,” CDCR said in the statement.
Rushing’s death marks the second inmate fatality in the past two days and the third this year at California State Prison, Sacramento. CDCR opened a homicide investigation Monday after a fight between two inmates the night before left one of them, 53-year-old Edward C. Bergman, dead in his cell. In January, another fight between two inmates led to one of them, identified as 42-year-old Joseph D. Horne, being pronounced dead in the facility’s treatment and triage area.
Rushing was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for San Diego County convictions of first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement of terminate pregnancy and arson of structure or forest fire. He had been incarcerated since 1996 and had been sentenced to addition time in 2022 for possession of a manufactured weapon while serving time at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
The prison, also known as New Folsom to distinguish it from nearby Folsom State Prison, houses more than 1,900 inmates.
The Bee’s Michael McGough contributed to this story.
