A hunt continues for at least two gunmen who opened fire in Sacramento’s entertainment district on Sunday, killing six people and wounding 12.
The streets were full of crowds leaving bars and nightclubs in California’s capital city when the sound of rapid-fire gunshots sent people running in terror.
Sacramento police have confirmed they are looking for multiple suspects after the 2am shooting.
Sacramento police chief Kathy Lester said the city was ‘shocked’ by the violence. Pic AP
Police chief Kathy Lester has asked people to share videos and other evidence that could lead to the killers.
“The scale of violence that just happened in our city is unprecedented during my 27 years here,” she said.
“We are shocked and heartbroken by this tragedy. But we are also resolved as an agency to find those responsible and to secure justice for the victims and the families.”
Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg spoke about increasing levels of violence in the city.
“We can never accept it as normal and we never will,” Mr Steinberg said of the shooting. “But we also have to live our lives.”
The shooting happened shortly after a fight broke out, but police do not know if the two incidents are connected.
Video from witnesses posted on social media showed rapid gunfire for at least 45 seconds as people screamed and ran for cover.
Police found a stolen handgun, but they did not know if it had been used in the shooting.
The dead were three men and three women.
Leticia Fields-Harris waits for news on her husband who may have been caught up in the shooting
The attack on Sunday was the third time in the US this year that at least six people have been killed in a mass shooting, according to a database compiled by Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
It was the second mass shooting in Sacramento in the past five weeks.
President Joe Biden called for action on gun crimes on Sunday.
“Today, America once again mourns for another community devastated by gun violence,” he said. “But we must do more than mourn – we must act.”
On 28 February, a father killed his three daughters, a chaperone and himself in a Sacramento church during a weekly supervised visitation.