Gang member sentenced in 2020 Sacramento drive-by shooting that killed 1, injured 3
SACRAMENTO – The gunman in a 2020 gang-related drive-by shooting that killed one man and injured three others in Sacramento was sentenced to 133 years and four months to life in prison, prosecutors said Monday.
Christopher Berger had been convicted of first-degree murder and three counts of discharging a gun from a vehicle on August 2, 2023, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office said.
Nearly three years to the day before that conviction, on August 24, 2020, Berger drove up to a home in North Sacramento and fired 11 gunshots at four men who were out front.
Alex Cardona, 27, of Citrus Heights, died after being shot in the head. The three other victims were shot multiple times but survived.
Not long after the shooting, Berger reported that his vehicle was stolen, and police found it being driven by another person three days later.
The person driving told authorities who they got it from, and that person was determined to be a friend of Berger.
The driver also found and then discarded into a dumpster a shell casing that was inside the car when they got it, officials said. Investigators found the shell casing and matched it to those found at the scene of the shooting.
During a traffic stop eight months after the shooting, law enforcement officials located an unregistered gun that matched the casings found at the scene.
Berger was arrested days after the shooting. The district attorney's office said Berger and the victims were rival gang members.