Father kills 4, including his 3 daughters, before shooting himself at Sacramento-area church
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Five people are dead, including three children, after a man opened fire inside a Sacramento-area church Monday night before turning the gun on himself.
The 39-year-old gunman opened fire inside The Church in Sacramento, in the Arden Arcade neighborhood just east of the city, where a supervised visit between him and his daughters was taking place, according to authorities.
The three girls killed were 9, 10 and 13, said Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Another man, who was not identified but was chaperoning the family visit, was also gunned down.
“This was not a random shooting,” he said, adding that the shooter and victims “all knew each other.”
Authorities did not identify the shooter by name or the victims as of Tuesday morning.
Update: What we know about deadly rampage at Sacramento-area church shooting that left 5 dead
Sacramento mass shooter wasn’t supposed to have a gun. His restraining order didn’t stop him
Sheriff Scott Jones told reporters at the scene that the mother, who was out of town at the time of the shooting, was talking with authorities. Jones said the mother had a temporary restraining order against the estranged father. That temporary restraining order should have prevented him from having a firearm, according to a domestic violence expert.
“It’s very upsetting,” Jones said. “You know, there’s a lot of ways that this could have unfolded, and obviously it’s a tragedy no matter how it unfolds. There is just no explanation of how these violence and domestic relationships go bad.”
A law enforcement source, who was not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Sacramento Bee that the shooter did not have a criminal history in Sacramento.
Adult killed was supervising dad’s visit with kids
Jones said the adult victim was a man believed to be supervising the visit, but it was unclear if he was a church employee or a social worker.
“The shooter came in and — what appears to be — killed the person who was supervising the visit, killed his own three children and then turned the gun on himself,” Jones said.
The shooting happened just after 5 p.m. at The Church on the 2000 block of Wyda Way after a church employee, who was working upstairs, heard gunshots and called 911.
“They said they heard a shot and then additional shots — (the employee) left the building,” Grassmann said.
Grassmann said the shooting was over in a matter of minutes before deputies arrived.
Authorities said they were investigating if the shooter or adult victim were members of The Church, a nondenominational church that is part of a fellowship of 2,000 local churches globally, its website said before it went offline Monday night. The Church, which has been in operation since 1975, has services in English, Spanish and Mandarin.
Police cordoned off streets in the neighborhood around the Arden Arcade church through the night as they continued to investigate. By morning, only scraps of police caution tape remained at The church on Wyda Way, about a hundred yards east of the Sacramento city limits at Ethan Way and two blocks north of Arden Fair mall.
On Tuesday morning, memorials for the victims started to collect outside The Church’s gates as authorities continued to investigate the incident and the shooter’s motives for the grisly attack.
A member of The Church, who would only give his name as Alfredo, spoke briefly to reporters outside the gate of the church around 8 a.m. and said church leaders would provide information when they were able to.
“Our elders at the church will put out a statement soon,” Alfredo said. “That’s all we can say at this time.”
‘This guy killed his kids. This hurts so bad’
Sandi Davis lives in a small apartment complex down the street from The Church. She was walking out of her apartment with her dog when she heard five to six gunshots. She ducked and laid on the ground while screaming for her neighbor, telling him shots had been fired.
Davis said she was saddened and alarmed after learning Monday’s shooting involved a father shooting his three children, who attended Bannon Creek Elementary and Leroy Greene Academy charter school, according to the Natomas Unified School District.
The district said in a statement to staff and parents that grief counselors would be at the two campuses Tuesday morning for “anyone in the district who may need it.”
Three girls shot and killed by father inside church were students at Natomas Unified in Sacramento
“This isn’t the answer,” Davis said. “This guy killed his kids. This hurts so bad. Children are innocent, they didn’t have a chance at life.”
She said The Church offers help to people in the neighborhood, including people who are not members of the church. Davis lost her husband two years ago when he was killed in a hit-and-run collision. The church pastor made sure congregation members brought her food as she struggled with grief, and she said the pastor leaves out food atop a mailbox for anyone who might be hungry.
“My sister was killed due to domestic violence,” Davis said. “This is senseless, domestic violence has got to stop. They were supposed to meet over there in a safe haven.”
Pedro Chavez, who lives in a house across the street, said Tuesday morning that he heard gunshots and then saw first responders treating a young girl in front of the church.
“They couldn’t save the girl’s life,” he said. “They tried but they couldn’t.”
‘Another tragedy that’s hard to understand’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom weighed in just after the shooting on Twitter, saying “Another senseless act of gun violence in America — this time in our backyard. In a church with kids inside. Absolutely devastating.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called it “an unspeakable tragedy.”
“It happens too often, and tonight it happened in our backyard,” he said on the social media platform.
Interim Sacramento Kings coach Alvin Gentry opened his postgame news conference with somber remarks about the shooting following a road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
“We just got the news here of what happened in Sacramento with the church shooting and … some young people there,” Gentry said. “Our hearts and our prayers go out to the family and everybody involved in that. It’s just another tragedy that’s hard to understand. It’s almost impossible to comprehend.
“We just want the families and everyone to know that we’ll be praying for them for the rest of the night and the rest of the year, and we’ll keep them in our prayers. It’s just such a tragic thing, especially when kids are losing their lives in a situation like that.”
The Bee’s Jason Anderson, Michael McGough and Paul Kitagaki Jr. contributed to this story.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides confidential assistance to anyone affected by domestic violence through a live chat and a free 24-hour hotline: 800-799-7233.
