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Shola Lee
At least six people have been killed and nine injured during a shooting today (3 April) in the centre of Sacramento, California, police say.
Sacramento police have closed off the area between 9th and 13th Street after the shooting early this morning, sharing an advisory on Twitter.
Details about the shooting are still emerging, with police asking people to 'please avoid the area as a large police presence will remain and the scene remains active'.
The tweet read: "9th St to 13th St is closed between L St & J St as officers investigate a shooting with multiple victims. Conditions unknown at this time. Please avoid the area as a large police presence will remain and the scene remains active. Please follow this thread for updates."
The shooting is reported to have taken place at around 2am local time in the 10th Street area in the city centre, as per the BBC. The area leads onto the Golden One Center, where the Sacramento Kings play basketball.
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Police Chief Katherine Lester described coming across a 'very large crowd' as police responded to the gunfire, noting 'This is a really tragic situation'.
"We are asking for the public's help in helping us to identify the suspects in this and provide any information they can to help us solve this", Lester added as per Reuters.
In an update to their initial tweet, Sacramento Police said that they had 'located at least 15 shooting victims, including 6 who are deceased'.
Barry Accius, a community activist of youth mentorship non-profit Sacramento’s Voice of the Youth, described the scene as 'chaotic', noting 'It was just horrific'.
Accius was said to have arrived at the scene after a city council member told him about the shooting.
"Just as soon as I walked up you saw a chaotic scene, police all over the place, victims with blood all over their bodies, folks screaming, folks crying, people going, 'Where is my brother?' Mothers crying and trying to identify who their child was", Accius said.
Local council member Kate Valenzuela told of how at "Around 2:30am, I got the call no elected official wants to get. Another shooting. More lives lost. The national gun violence epidemic has hit our community – again", as per The Guardian.
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