Sacramento mass shooting: Officials hold news conference after 6 people were killed 4/03/22 Transcript

Darrell Steinberg: (00:00)
And it’s time for action. Council member, Katie Valenzuela. It’s okay, I’ll stand with you.

Katie Valenzuela: (00:15)
At 2:30 this morning, I got the call that no elected official wants to get, and you’ll have to excuse me for being emotional because I haven’t really slept since, a call that I’ve gotten too many times in the 15 months that I’ve been in office, that there has been another incident of gun violence in my district, that more people had been killed. So I’m heartbroken and I’m outraged. I’m outraged. Our community deserves better than this. I know this is a national epidemic. This is not unique to Sacramento, but we can stop it here. We can stop it here. I believe that we have the tools to do this and I am asking and so happy that my colleagues are here with me that you all are here watching to say that enough is enough. Enough is enough.

Katie Valenzuela: (01:18)
And I will travel anywhere I need to travel and I will talk to whoever I need to talk to to get these guns off these streets and to give our youth what they need so that they can be successful and that they don’t get shot down on K Street when they’re out trying to have a good time. So thank you for being here today. And I hope it’s the last time that I ever see you when something like this happens on the streets of my district. Thank you.

Thank you, Katie. Vice Mayor Ashby.

Angelique Ashby: (01:46)
These are the times when it is very difficult to be a council member and those calls are very challenging to get. I’d like to tell her it’ll be the last, but I’ve been here too long so I know it won’t be. I too would like to thank the people of Sacramento who acted heroically last night. I hope you all will find them and tell their stories as well. I know thoughts and prayers are not enough, but the families have mine nonetheless. There are too many people right now fighting for their lives in our hospitals. And there are too many parents, friends and family grieving the loss of young adults in our city. We’re better than this. California’s done more than most and Sacramento has done more than most, and it is not enough.

Angelique Ashby: (02:40)
We’re going to have to work together. And as for today’s message, the most important thing that any and all of you can do is help us. Help us. If you have video footage, if you know something, please report it to the Sacramento Police Department. They’ve set up a QR code. It’s on Twitter. It’s on all of our Twitters. Please use it. Please help us. And then our commitment to you moving forward is that we too will support this community and these families and this city that we love so deeply. I hate being here today, but there’s nowhere else I would be because I love Sacramento and I’m proud to stand with my colleagues. That being said, introduce council member, Rick Jennings.

Rick Jennings: (03:35)
So this is a tough day for all of us, but you can imagine my colleagues and I are here in support for the families who talked to their loved ones yesterday, who loved on their loved ones yesterday, who patted them on the back or even admonished them in some way. Some of their loved ones are no longer here with us, some of their loved ones are fighting for their life. And so as a man of faith, I am praying, I am giving positive thoughts and I’m asking each of you to do the same for us. We need to do everything we can to help these families get through these times, these very difficult times.

Rick Jennings: (04:22)
And so I’m asking all of you to make sure that we reach out whatever video surveillance that we have, get it to the Sacramento Police Department, get it so we can solve this crime and we can address these issues of gun violence that take the lives of those who had bright futures, but those futures will never be realized. So I’m here today in support of the families, those who are fighting for their lives. I’m here in support of the city that I love with all my heart and soul. And we will do everything possible to make sure that this does not happen as we go forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Jay.

Jay Schenirer: (05:12)
Thanks. I just want to thank everyone for being here. Sacramento has a long history of stepping up when it needs to to support our own. This is just one more example of that. I want to thank my colleagues for being here today. I echo the words of many of them, of what they’ve said. I don’t know how often we need to see a bad result of things that we haven’t done, of the investments that we haven’t made in our poorest communities and the young people that we haven’t supported to be successful in their schooling and their careers and their lives. We need to get ahead of that curve. I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that we can do that. Thank you for being here. Let me introduce Eric Guerra.

Eric Guerra: (06:05)
I think the words that my colleagues have said, I don’t want to repeat them other than the consistent commitment that we need to focus in our community and that right now, more than anything, it’s a call for our region. This isn’t just us in the city here, but for our region. People see Sacramento as a regional entity. And so we need to make sure that we all are helping each other, asking for information, if you have information. But also to remember that we have to make a commitment for the decades in the future to come. I’m here to stand with my colleague as well so that we can never see this again. There are so many young kids, I woke up this morning and saw my young kids and then looked at my phone to see that shock. Many families woke up that this morning to see that shock and that horrific outcome. We need to prevent that from ever happening again. [Spanish 00:07:03]. Thank you.

Thank you, Eric. We’re also joined by council member, Mai Vang, and County Board of Education member, Karina Talamantes. Thank you for being here as well. We’d be happy to stand for any questions. Again, we are not here to comment on the specifics of the investigation. That is the role of our police chief and our police department. But we would be happy to talk to you about where we stand for and with our community.

Speaker 7: (07:58)
Mr. Mayor, can you talk about just this area? I know the council city’s invested in a lot in this area to economic development.

Yeah.

Speaker 7: (08:08)
What events like this do-

Well look at this weekend, the other parts of this weekend, and obviously this pales for all the obvious reasons. We had two major concerts at the Golden 1 Center Friday and Saturday night. The community center theater is booked. We’re attracting conventions. The restaurants are open. People are coming back. I mean it is a very difficult one because obviously people look at this and say, “Oh my God, how dangerous is downtown?” Well we want people to come downtown and safely and people should come downtown. People should come downtown. Now, we’re going to look at what we obviously have to do especially in the late hours to assure that people are safe. But you cannot predict or prevent every single random act of violence.

So we’ve got a dedicated police force. We’ve got a very active community and we have a downtown that is in fact coming back. And I want people to come downtown safely. And so anything like this… In some ways, your question of course is appropriate. Our minds now and our thoughts have to be with people who are the victims of this tragedy. You ask a question and it’s an appropriate question and I answer it to say that we’re going to get through this together, and downtown is going to continue to be a great destination for our people and for everyone throughout this region.

Speaker 8: (09:57)
Mr. Mayor, your colleagues talked about what the city has done to prevent things like this. Obviously, it didn’t work. What failed? What else needs to be done?

Well we have put millions of dollars into gang prevention, gang intervention, and we do not know whether or not this was gang related. We don’t know. And so I’m not presupposing that. The truth of the matter is over the last number of years, we have changed the investment arc of this city between the federal rescue plan dollars, the COVID dollars and our own city taxpayer dollars. We are spending more on youth, on gang intervention, on inclusion, on economic development than ever before. Now, is it enough? Absolutely not. We need to continue the trajectory that says the core responsibility of a city is first to provide public safety, first to provide public safety, but in addition, we must invest in our people and in our communities and especially our disadvantaged communities. That’s what we have been doing in Sacramento. And in many places, it’s beginning to show results, but it’s only the beginning and we have so much more work to do. And this terrible event is only going to steal us and deepen our commitment to doing just that, especially on behalf of young people.

Sacramento mass shooting: Officials hold news conference after 6 people were killed 4/03/22 Transcript

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