At least 2 shooters kill 6 wound 12 in California

SACRAMENTO, California: At least two shooters opened fire before dawn Sunday in Sacramento in the city’s second mass shooting in five weeks, killing six people and wounding 12 others as bars closed for the night and crowds emptied onto downtown streets, police said.
Three men and three women were killed in the violence. Their bodies remained on the pavement hours after the gunfire erupted, creating a massive crime scene that stretched across multiple city blocks. The shooters were still at large more than 14 hours later and at least four of their victims battled life-threatening bullet wounds in nearby hospitals.
As investigators poured through hundreds of pieces of evidence — much of it documented on the streets with blue and yellow markers — officials begged people to come forward with tips and videos that would help them to solve the crime.
“We’re asking for the public’s help in helping us to identify the suspects in this,” Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said.
Authorities found a stolen handgun at the scene and a police camera captured part of the melee, while video footage posted to social media showed what appeared to be an altercation before the gunfire broke out in the city of about 525,000, located 75 miles (120 kilometers) from San Francisco.
Detectives were trying to determine the sequence of events before the shooting. Sgt. Zach Eaton, a police spokesperson, said they “don’t know if that fight actually lead to the shooting.”
Kelsey Schar was staying on the fourth floor of Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw flashes in the dark. She walked to the window and “saw a guy running and just shooting,” Schar told The Associated Press.
Her friend, Madalyn Woodard, said she saw a crowd in the street scatter amid the gunfire and a girl who appeared to have been shot in the arm laying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with what looked like napkins to try to stanch the bleeding.
A video posted on Twitter showed people running through the street amid the sounds of rapid gunfire in an area on the outskirts of the city’s main entertainment district that is packed with restaurants and bars. Nightclubs close at 2 a.m. and it’s typical for streets to be full of people at that hour.
The district is anchored by the Golden One Center that attracts big-name concerts and is home to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, who are hosting a game Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors. City officials have invested heavily in the area to promote development in the area and police said there would be extra patrols downtown ahead of the basketball game.
“This morning our city has a broken heart,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. “We don’t know all the facts but we know there were mass casualties in a very short amount of time.”
Officers were patrolling the area near the shooting site two blocks from the State Capitol at about 2 a.m. when they heard gunfire and rushed to the scene, Lester told reporters. They found a large crowd gathered and six people dead in the street. Twelve others were also shot and wounded in the melee. – AP