Grant Union High shooting: Student wounded in arm, suspect apprehended, lockdown lifted

Grant Union High School was put on “emergency lockdown” for two hours Tuesday after a male student was shot in the arm on campus during classes.

A 14-year-old suspect, a student at the school, was detained off campus by law enforcement shortly after the incident, said Sgt. Carlos Martinez, a spokesman with the Sacramento Police Department. The 17-year-old victim was shot once in the school’s parking lot and transported to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.

“We are shocked and saddened to hear of the events that led to a Twin Rivers student being shot at Grant High School,” the Twin Rivers Unified School District said in a message posted to the school’s website.

Police and Sacramento Fire Department medics were called to the Del Paso Heights campus just after 9:50 a.m. for reports of the emergency but Martinez said there was never an “active shooter” situation. He added the shooting appeared to be targeted and authorities had been alerted to the ordeal by a ShotSpotter activation in the area.

“There’s no threat to the community,” Martinez said in a briefing with reporters. The 14-year-old was booked on assault-related charges at juvenile hall, said Officer Cody Tapley, a spokesman with the Police Department. Authorities confirmed both were students at Grant.

The Twin Rivers Unified Police Department and Sacramento police officers worked together to apprehend the suspect, Martinez said. He was arrested in the 3800 block of Balsam Street, which is a couple blocks away from campus.

Multiple calls for more information were not returned by officials from the Twin Rivers district but a school official who was not authorized to speak on the matter said all sporting events and other extracurricular activities on campus were postponed for the day.

Classes continued without incident after the lockdown was lifted at 12:30 p.m., according to Grant’s website.

“We will be on scene for a little while longer working the case,” Martinez said of Sacramento officers. “Once we get more information, that will be sent to you.”

Sascha Vogt got a call from her daughter about the school going into lockdown. She rushed to the scene and communicated with students inside to ensure they were all safe.

“It’s trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma,” Vogt said for the students who had sheltered in place for a time.

Debra Cummings, a parent and a community activist, said that Brother 2 Brother, Community Mothers of 95838 and other North Sacramento groups were at the scene helping students process the emotions they felt after the violence. She said members of the Black Child Legacy Campaign’s Healing the Hood program were also assisting.

Psychologist and counselors will be available for students and staff to process this event, Twin Rivers officials said in their social media post.

After the lockdown, parents were allowed to pick up their children early if they wished, according to the high school’s website.

‘A proud anchor in our city’

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called on the community to stand with the North Sacramento school’s students and teachers in a statement posted on social media

“Grant is a proud anchor in our city,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Let’s stand with the entire community as they deal with this difficult time.”

He thanked the Sacramento Police Department for its quick response to arrest the suspected shooter but lamented at the proliferation of guns and shootings for teenagers.

“I’m thankful that the victim of today’s shooting is going to be OK, but saddened by the ongoing reality that teenagers in America have access to guns and readily use them on each other,” he wrote.

In October 2022, gunfire erupted toward the end of a football game in a parking lot at Grant High. Alfred Ayodele Myah, 24, of Sacramento, was shot and wounded during a dispute involving about 20 people, police said. Myah was taken in a private vehicle to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Two months later, detectives arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the fatal shooting. Police said no students were believed to be involved in the shooting. There were roughly 2,000 people at the game between Grant High and Monterey Trail High School.

That 2022 shooting was not the first time gun violence shook Grant High. In 2015, J.J. Clavo, a starting cornerback on the football team, was killed and fullback Malik Johnson was wounded the afternoon before a game at a restaurant about a mile from campus.

Last year, an 18-year-old Grant High student, who was set to graduate with his class the following day, was killed in a shooting in a late night shooting in Sacramento County’s North Highlands area. Billy Ray Scott was was inside a vehicle with two other people when a person walked up and shot into the vehicle through the passenger’s side, striking Scott in the leg, sheriff’s officials have said. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Investigators later arrested a 17-year-old boy as a suspect in the shooting.

The Bee’s Joe Davidson contributed to this story.