2 Sacramento sideshows turn deadly, police search for shooting suspects
SACRAMENTO — It was a weekend of violence across Sacramento with police saying two of the deadly shootings stemmed from sideshows.
"You hear the cars rolling up and everything," said Jessica Pickett, who lives near where one of the deadly sideshows occurred. "There's like loud firecrackers."
Pickett and her neighbor shared cell phone video that captured the massive street takeover on Seamist Drive in Sacramento.
"At some point, I heard someone scream," Pickett said.
What started with cars doing donuts turned deadly. Police confirmed one man was shot and killed.
"A life is not worth losing over donuts in a car," said Trina Lafuente, who also lives nearby.
She got the unwanted wake-up call at around 2 a.m. from the noisy action that the police broke up.
"They're running inside the apartments and it's frightening. You don't know," said Lafuente. "I have children."
An hour later, police rushed to a second sideshow near Kelton Way and Main Avenue. It is there they learned two people were shot, one dying in the hospital and the other surviving.
"We want to let everybody know that we are doing everything in our power to increase our safety," said Sergeant Dan Wiseman with the Sacramento Police Department.
Sgt. Wiseman said the Sacramento Police Department has a violent crime reduction team that monitors social media where people often post where sideshows are going to pop up.
The problem is that there are not enough resources to respond, especially when they happen at more than one location on a single night.
"SacPD going up against 500 people. That's kind of intimidating," Lafuente said.
The Sacramento Police Department said it is increasing patrols and activating its real-time information center to provide a little bit more resources to officers in the field.
It usually relies on its air units and teams up with neighboring agencies to break up sideshows and make arrests.
"I don't know what the solution is," Lafuente said.
Neighbors told CBS13 that they now jump to the sound of revving engines and are fed up with street takeovers that have spiraled into gun violence.
"It's just heartbreaking," Lafuente said. "That should never happen over doing circles in a car. Someone shouldn't lose a life over that."
Investigators are still searching for the shooting suspects in both deadly sideshows.
The department wants to remind people that engaging in a sideshow, even as a spectator, is illegal. You can be cited, your car impounded, arrested and you could even face jail time.
"We as a department we condemn this kind of behavior," Sgt. Wiseman said. "It's completely unacceptable that this violence is occurring."