Four people in their 20s were hospitalized after gunfire erupted at a park in California’s capital city of Sacramento over the weekend.
Officials with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said that around 6:30 p.m. on April 18, deputies received reports of a person armed at Howe Community Park, where several hundred people had gathered for an event investigators said may have been related to UC Davis Picnic Day.
When park authorities were notified, they told the sheriff’s department the gathering was unauthorized and requested the crowd be cleared out.
Four people were hospitalized after an unauthorized gathering of hundreds of people at Howe Community Park on April 18, 2026. (SCSO)
“Deputies surrounded the park with lights on their vehicles, activated their sirens, and made public address announcements for people to leave the area for about 15 minutes,” KTLA’s Sacramento sister station KTXL reported. “At that time, deputies heard 20 to 25 gunshots in the area.”
As people fled the park, deputies located four victims, three males and one female, all suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Three of the victims were reportedly shot, while a fourth person suffered lacerations after being grazed by gunfire.
Four people were hospitalized after an unauthorized gathering of hundreds of people at Howe Community Park on April 18, 2026. (Google Maps)
The victims were taken to the hospital, where all were listed in stable condition with non‑life‑threatening injuries, investigators said.
Three people were later detained, a female and two males, after law enforcement in Solano County stopped a “vehicle of interest” in Fairfield, nearly 50 miles from the scene of the shooting.
“A search of the vehicle was conducted, and a firearm was located,” investigators said. “This is still an active investigation, and these subjects’ level of involvement is unknown at this time.”
Anyone with information about the incident was urged to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office at 916‑874‑5115.
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