Photo: Robert Petersen
A man open fired and killed his three children, another person, them himself inside a church in Sacramento's Arden neighborhood Monday afternoon.
A fifth person has been killed in the shooting inside the church on Wyda Way. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office says that person was overseeing the visit with the children and the father. “This was not a random shooting,” said Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, adding that the shooter and victims “all knew each other.” Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones told reporters at the scene that the mother, who lives out of town, was talking with authorities, and claimed she had a temporary restraining order against the estranged father. According to a domestic violence expert to The Sacramento Bee, that temporary restraining order should have prevented him from having a firearm completely.
According to police reports, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. at The Church in Sacramento on Wyda Way after a church employee working upstairs heard gunshots and called 911.
The identity of the victims has yet to be disclosed publicly, but the ages of the three children have been revealed as 9, 10, and 13.