In a year of gun violence that included Sacramento’s deadliest mass shooting, the homicide rate in the capital city and the surrounding region was slightly lower than the year before — but remained among the deadliest in a generation — according to records reviewed by The Sacramento Bee. The city tallied 54 homicide deaths in 2022, including the six killed in the April 3 mass shooting in which alleged rival gang members sprayed over 100 bullets indiscriminately in the downtown intersection of 10th and K streets as people were leaving nearby nightclubs and bars. Another 12 were wounded in the shootout. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has filed murder charges against Mtula Payton and brothers Smiley Martin and Dandrae Martin for their alleged roles in the April 3 shootout.
There were two other fatal shootings outside nightclubs and bars before the year’s end. That included a July 4 eruption of bullets outside Mix Downtown nightclub at 16th and L streets, which killed Greg Najee Grimes and wounded four other people. No arrests in the case have been made, according to police.
Another was a Sept. 25 shootout after a group of people were kicked out of BarWest, a midtown sports bar on J Street near 28th Street. Police arrested Michael Escobar on suspicion of assault with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a gun in the shooting death of Alfonso Martinez Jr., 34, of Elk Grove. The downtown shooting and 2021’s surge in gun violence renewed a sense of urgency among city leaders, police and community groups to reduce gun violence. Still, the brazen deadly shootings continued throughout the year. For all of 2022, Sacramento recorded four fewer homicide deaths in the city than 2021, when 58 occurred, the deadliest year since 2006.
Across Sacramento County, the number of homicide deaths also dipped slightly to 110 people in 2022 from 113 in 2021 and 123 in 2020, according to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office saw a slight increase to 39 homicides in 2022 from 38 in 2021 and 49 in 2020. Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper, who was sworn in last month after winning in June’s primary election, said he wants his office to work in partnership with community groups to increase resources for neglected neighborhoods in the county. Areas with little to no arts or sports programs for children, underperforming schools and a lack of jobs — Cooper says those are the root causes of crime and violence.
“We’ve done a lot of things for other areas of Sacramento,” Cooper said shortly before he was sworn at a ceremony in December. “But those impoverished areas have been that way for 30, 40, 50 years. And that’s the issue: putting those resources in those communities and giving those kids a chance.”