Police shoot, kill gunman after standoff atop downtown Sacramento parking structure

A man who barricaded himself atop a downtown Sacramento parking garage early Tuesday has died after being shot by police following a standoff, the Sacramento Police Department said.

The incident began just after 1 a.m. when the man was reported in the Downtown Plaza West parking garage at Third and L streets with a weapon. Three 911 callers told police that the man had approached them with a silver gun after they stepped off the elevator to the parking garage; police later said the man had pointed the gun, later identified as a revolver, at security guards.

Officers located the man a few minutes later squatting in the parking garage, which is located west of Macy’s department store and the Downtown Commons area and east of Interstate 5. A police drone was then called in for surveillance as officers worked to get the suspect to surrender, according to dispatch audio archived by Broadcastify.com.

The Police Department’s SWAT team and crisis negotiators were called to the scene.

Video of the incident by CBS13 showed the man standing on the top level of the garage waiving what appeared to be a revolver. The man was seen acting agitated, pacing back and forth and at times draping an shirt over his head.

Just before 5:30 a.m., after several hours of negotiations, one of the SWAT officers fired on the subject when the suspect had pointed his revolver at personnel.

Sgt. Carlos Martinez, a Sacramento police spokesman, said the armed man fired multiple gunshots as officers tried to negotiate his safe surrender. At one point, the gunman pointed the weapon at an officer, and that’s when the SWAT officer shot him, Martinez said.

“When someone displays a gun at officers, our attempt is to stop that threat,” Martinez said.

Officers provided immediate aid to the wounded man but he was pronounced dead by firefighters, Martinez said.

KCRA reported the man appeared to have been shot in the shoulder area, falling to the ground shortly after. Crime scene investigators set up a white tent on the northeast corner of the parking garage’s top level.

After the fatal shooting, officers recovered the revolver. No other injuries were reported.

Less than lethal weapons were not used by police during the confrontation according to a preliminary review by officials, Martinez said.

Multiple streets — Third, Fifth, L and J around the west end of the former Downtown Plaza — were closed for several hours as police continued to investigate the incident. By 11:30 a.m., roadways had reopened to traffic though the garage was expected to remain closed.

Past officer-involved shootings in Sacramento

Tuesday’s incident marks the department’s fourth officer-involved shooting of 2023.

It was less than a month ago when Sacramento officers shot and killed a man brandishing a knife aboard a Sacramento Regional Transit light rail car outside of Sacramento City College. Video released a few days after the Aug. 15 incident showed police using a bean-bag round to subdue the man, identified as 44-year-old Dante Dwaine Day. After being shot with the less-than-lethal round, Day lunged toward the officers. Two officers fired their service weapons, killing Day.

In May, officers near 28th and Q streets in midtown when officers fired upon a woman who had caused disturbances at several midtown businesses before she allegedly robbed a coffee shop.

The woman, who had been brandishing a pellet gun and pointed it at officers before they shot her, survived and was later arrested. The 43-year-old Chico woman’s case remains suspended, court records show, as she was deemed mentally incompetent to face criminal charges.

The first shooting with police this year in the city happened Feb. 8 in Old North Sacramento when a carjacking suspect was shot by officers as he used his vehicle to escape, injuring one of the officers.

Clayton Freeman, 32, remains in custody at the Main Jail as he defends felony charges including assaulting an officer in the line of duty with great bodily injury. He pleaded not guilty and, according to court records, his trial has been continued to Monday.

Tuesday’s shooting is being investigated by the Police Department’s homicide unit, internal affairs division and professional standards unit. The city’s Office of Public Safety Accountability and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office are expected to provide oversight by monitoring the investigation.