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At least five shooters were involved in a gunfight in downtown Sacramento around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning that left six people dead and a dozen others wounded, police said Wednesday.
“It is increasingly clear that gang violence is at the center of this tragedy,” the Sacramento Police Department said in an update on the mass shooting. “While we cannot at this time elaborate on the precise gang affiliation of individuals involved, gangs and gang violence are inseparable from the events that drove these shootings.”
Two brothers – 26-year-old Dandrae Martin and 27-year-old Smiley Martin – were arrested earlier in the week in connection with the shooting.
Smiley Martin brandished a firearm on Facebook Live just hours before the shooting and has a criminal record dating back to 2013, investigators told the Associated Press. He was released from prison in February of this year.
WITNESSES DESCRIBE CHAOTIC SCENE DURING CALIFORNIA MASS SHOOTING: ‘RUNNING INTO EACH OTHER’
A third suspect, 31-year-old Daviyonne Dawson, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Sacramento police said he was seen carrying a gun right after the shooting but is not charged with crimes directly related to the shooting.
Members of the public have provided a “a remarkable level of assistance” in the investigation, sending in nearly 200 videos, photographs, and other pieces of evidence, police said Wednesday in an appeal for more assistance.
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“This tragedy downtown is a very public example of what families in many of our neighborhoods know too well,” Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said Wednesday. “The suffering inflicted by gang violence does not limit itself to gang members. It spills over to claim and shatter innocent lives and harm our entire community.”
The six deceased victims are Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21; Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and De’vazia Turner, 29.
