Sacramento Police officers respond to a standoff incident at the Oak Park Market in south Oak Park on Thursday, March 12, 2026.
HANNAH RUHOFF
hruhoff@sacbee.com
A suspect in a four-hour standoff with police last Thursday was released from a hospital this week and booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail, where he faces a homicide charge in a shooting that killed a man several blocks from where the police standoff occurred.
Along with the homicide charge, Willie Lee King, 47, of Sacramento faces a felony charge of evading police while driving in a reckless manner, jail records show. King was deemed ineligible for bail, and he was scheduled to appear for his arraignment Thursday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court.
The shooting was reported about 1:15 p.m. March 12 in the 4000 block of Washington Avenue in Sacramento’s South Oak Park neighborhood. Officers found a man with at least one gunshot wound, according to a Sacramento Police Department news release.
Police said authorities attempted life-saving measures, but medics pronounced the man dead at the scene. The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office will release the man’s name and age after his family has been notified. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Coroner’s Office had not released his identity.
Officers investigating at the shooting scene gathered information about a suspect vehicle. Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators took over the investigation, speaking to witnesses and collecting evidence.
Later that same afternoon, officers received a report of a weapon seen on Jeffrey Avenue in the nearby North City Farms neighborhood just west of Highway 99. Police said the weapon was seen in the same suspect vehicle from the Washington Avenue shooting.
Officers found the vehicle, and a police pursuit ensued. The vehicle chase ended in the 3300 block of 12th Avenue back in South Oak Park, several blocks west of where the deadly shooting occurred.
Sacramento Police officers respond to a standoff incident at the Oak Park Market in South Oak Park on Thursday, March 12, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
Police said the suspect, later identified as King, was uncooperative with officers and refused to surrender.
Officers surrounded vehicle, which was in front of the Oak Park Market, just east of 33rd Street. Police sealed off the area to vehicles and pedestrians. Officers told nearby residents to lock their doors and stay inside. Some residents in the area were evacuated as a precaution.
The Police Department had armored vehicles, its SWAT team and crisis negotiators working to safely take the shooting suspect into custody. After about four hours, officers took King into custody.
King was taken to a hospital for treatment. He remained hospitalized until Tuesday, when he was released and booked at the downtown Sacramento jail. The Police Department did not provide any details about King’s treatment.
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Rosalio Ahumada writes breaking news stories related to crime and public safety for The Sacramento Bee. He speaks Spanish fluently and has worked as a news reporter in the Central Valley since 2004.