{"id":207304,"date":"2026-03-06T12:41:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/207304\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T12:41:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:41:23","slug":"eric-abril-pleads-guilty-in-roseville-ca-park-hostage-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/207304\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Abril pleads guilty in Roseville CA park hostage murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric James Abril, who had been scheduled to go to trial later this month accused of killing a hostage and wounding two other people during a 2023 standoff with law enforcement at a Roseville park, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday in Placer Superior Court.<\/p>\n

Abril was charged with murder and attempted murder in the shooting at Mahany Park in Roseville<\/a>. Last week, Judge Michael Jones confirmed with the attorneys in the case that Abril\u2019s trial would start March 23.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Abril shot James MacEgan, of Roseville, and MacEgan\u2019s wife during the April 6, 2023 standoff with law enforcement officers. MacEgan, 72, died from his injuries. Patricia MacEgan and California Highway Patrol Officer Matthew Hiatt were wounded by gunfire.<\/p>\n

Police officials said Abril took the couple hostage during the standoff with police after a shootout with CHP investigators trying to serve a search warrant at the park. Authorities said Abril shot Hiatt during the shootout with the officers at the park before he confronted the MacEgans.<\/p>\n

\"Eric Eric James Abril appears for his arraignment on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Placer Superior Court. Abril pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday in connection to an April 2023 shooting and kidnapping incident at Roseville\u2019s Mahany Park, prosecutors said. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Abril\u2019s trial was initially scheduled to begin a year ago but was delayed after Abril changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity<\/a> in February 2025. The trial was expected to last 25 days. If he was convicted, a jury would then have to decide whether Abril was insane when the park shooting occurred.<\/p>\n

Abril, 38, of Roseville, appeared in court Wednesday morning and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder of a peace officer and kidnapping, the Placer County District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a> announced in a news release.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Abril also admitted to a special circumstance allegation that he committed the murder during a kidnapping, along with aggravating factors in the crimes.<\/p>\n

Life in prison without parole<\/p>\n

Abril will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder as part of the plea agreement, along with additional prison time for the other crimes. Abril is scheduled to be sentenced March 25.<\/p>\n

Abril also faced two additional counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, alleging that Abril also fired gunshots at two other officers, Leo Smith and Tyson Becker, during the Mahany Park standoff. At the time, Becker was a Sacramento County deputy probation officer and Smith was a CHP officer, according to compensation records provided by the county and state to Transparent California.<\/p>\n

Abril also escaped from custody<\/a> while receiving medical treatment at Sutter Roseville Medical Center three months after he was arrested following the park standoff.<\/p>\n

Placer County sheriff\u2019s officials have said Abril was being guarded by a deputy but managed \u201cto defeat his restraints\u201d and slip out of the hospital shortly after 3 a.m. July 9, 2023, while the deputy was on a bathroom break. Abril was captured after a 33-hour manhunt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, prosecutors said all remaining criminal charges against Abril will be dropped when he\u2019s sentenced on March 25.<\/p>\n

\"Police Police officers leave Zion Court in Rocklin after murder suspect Eric James Abril was captured behind the property on Monday, July 10, 2023, a day after he escaped custody from a Roseville hospital. Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

CHP investigators planned to serve a search warrant on Abril in connection with a shooting two months earlier on a Sacramento County freeway, where gunfire struck a vehicle. Investigators believed Abril was traveling south on Highway 99 where he pulled out a gun and fired at another vehicle on the busy freeway.<\/p>\n

In filed court documents, Placer County Deputy District Attorney David Tellman wrote that multiple CHP detectives tried to detain Abril on April 6, 2023, at Mahany Park to serve a search warrant and search his vehicle.<\/p>\n

How the hostage crisis unfolded<\/p>\n

At the time of the initial gun battle, the MacEgans were on an afternoon walk through a field where Abril had taken cover in a creek after the initial shootout, the prosecutor wrote in a September 2023 court document. Tellman said the couple heard the gunshots coming from nearby and took cover in the grass near the creek.<\/p>\n

As numerous officers converged at the park and created a perimeter around Abril\u2019s location, Abril made his way up the creek to where the MacEgans had taken cover in the grass, according to Tellman.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor alleged that Abril confronted the couple, at which point James MacEgan was shot and killed, before Abril grabbed MacEgan\u2019s wife and pulled her into the creek.<\/p>\n

\"Police Police respond to a scene of a shooting at Mahany Park in Roseville that left a hostage dead and another hostage and a California Highway Patrol officer wounded Thursday, April 6, 2023. Eric James Abril, the shooting suspect, was taken into custody. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Abril pointed his gun at her head as he ordered her to call 911, which she did, Tellman alleges. The prosecutor said that Abril, during the 911 call, instructed Patricia MacEgan to order law enforcement officials to back up from their positions and to move aerial drones that were monitoring Abril\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen (Abril) became frustrated that law enforcement wasn\u2019t responding to his demands quickly enough, Abril shot Patricia MacEgan through the shoulder (which was captured by drone video),\u201d Tellman wrote in the court document.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Roseville police officers and other assisting law enforcement officials used heavily armored vehicles to make their way to Abril\u2019s location in the creek.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor alleges that Abril then used Patricia MacEgan as a \u201chuman shield\u201d as he approached the officers and surrendered.<\/p>\n

Abril was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with officers, police said. He was hospitalized until the following evening, when he was booked at the Placer County Jail.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 12:38 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Rosalio Ahumada<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

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.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eric James Abril, who had been scheduled to go to trial later this month accused of killing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[95653,95656,95655,10288,95654,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-207304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-eric-abril","tag-hostage-killing","tag-mahany-park-shooting","tag-placer-county","tag-roseville-murder","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}