1 hurt in downtown Sacramento shooting. Man screamed ‘why,’ 911 caller tells police dispatch

Residents who paced outside the 7th and H Housing Community spoke while in disbelief as officers inside the downtown Sacramento apartment building investigated a shooting Thursday that left a man injured with at least one gunshot wound.

“It could have been me if I was home,” said Ray Brown, 60, who had stepped out briefly to run errands. He returned to find the 150-unit affordable housing development, near county administrative buildings, blocked off in yellow crime scene tape.

Sacramento police said officers went just before 1 p.m. to the 700 block of Seventh Street after getting a call about a shooting. The victim suffered a non-life-threatening injury, police said.

A 911 caller reported the incident happened on the eighth floor of the 7th and H Housing Community and that a man screamed “why” after it unfolded, according to archived dispatcher calls.

Police said late Thursday they had arrested a 34-year-old Sacramento man in connection to the shooting. He was located on the 6700 block of 50th Street “after extensive follow up and investigation” by officers, a spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department said.

Mercy Housing, a national nonprofit offering affordable housing, owns the building. It did not immediately return a call seeking comment about its security measures.

The housing complex is across the street from Sacramento County’s parking garage and around the corner from a federal courthouse building, Sacramento Superior Court and the Sacramento County Main Jail.

Area residents said they wouldn’t expect a shooting like this to happen mere yards from government buildings.

“You don’t think of somebody shooting up a building or even in an apartment in downtown Sacramento,” said Sarah Phillips, who was walking her dogs and waiting to return home. “This is something you don’t hear of.”