{"id":268407,"date":"2026-04-15T03:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268407\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T03:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:13:09","slug":"sacramento-da-declines-charges-after-natomas-high-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268407\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento DA declines charges after Natomas High shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sacramento County District Attorney\u2019s Office has decided not to press homicide charges in Friday\u2019s shooting at Natomas High School that killed a 16-year-old boy, saying the shooting occurred during a \u201cviolent attempted robbery\u201d that it categorized as self-defense.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from District Attorney Thien Ho\u2019s office, the victim, identified by the Sacramento County Coroner\u2019s Office as De\u2019Jon Sledge, and another person entered the Natomas High School campus with a handgun searching for a specific student. Neither Sledge nor the person he was with were attending Natomas High.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring a violent attempted robbery of the targeted student, the deceased was shot by the student who was also armed,\u201d the District Attorney\u2019s Office statement said.<\/p>\n

The DA\u2019s Office said the \u201cevidence cannot establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a full review of the facts, evidence, the applicable law, specifically as it relates to self-defense, we determined there was insufficient evidence to file homicide-related charges,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento Police Department announced the arrest of a 16-year-old suspect in connection<\/a> with the shooting Tuesday morning, saying that the boy was expected to be charged with \u201ca number of felony firearm-related charges\u201d after being detained the night before as a person of interest.<\/p>\n

The DA\u2019s Office said the suspect arrested would be charged with \u201cvarious weapons charges.\u201d A person connected to Sledge was also arrested and was expected to be charged in juvenile court with attempted robbery, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

The arrest came a day after Sledge, 16, was identified by the Sacramento County Coroner\u2019s Office on Monday as the victim of the shooting and classes resumed on the Truxel Road campus.<\/p>\n

Police said in a statement Tuesday<\/a> that Sledge suffered from at least one gunshot wound and had died at the scene.<\/p>\n

A statement released Monday on behalf of his family by EMPACT, a Sacramento nonprofit advocacy group,<\/a> described Sledge as an honors student who was focused on his academics and improving his grades.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son\u2019s life did not deserve to be taken from us,\u201d the statement, written by Sledge\u2019s mother, read.<\/p>\n

In the statement, Sledge\u2019s mother asked the community to \u201crefrain from spreading false narratives\u201d about him and said he was not affiliated with any gang.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son was caring. He was passionate. He was determined to walk the right path,\u201d the statement read. \u201cDid he make mistakes? Of course, just like any other teenager in this world. But anyone who truly knew my son knew what kind of person he really was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said Tuesday that the circumstances of the gunfight remain under investigation.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 2:21 PM.<\/p>\n

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


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

Camryn Dadey<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Camryn Dadey is The Sacramento Bee\u2019s Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova watchdog reporter. She is a 2022 graduate of Sacramento State.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sacramento County District Attorney\u2019s Office has decided not to press homicide charges in Friday\u2019s shooting at Natomas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-268407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268407","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=268407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}