Another summer of shootings

Sacramento County’s two largest law enforcement agencies have investigated a half-dozen homicides since the opening weeks of summer.

On the morning of June 13, county sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported family disturbance in Orangevale and found a man in his early 20s suffering from a gunshot wound on Pershing Avenue. The victim died at the hospital. Detectives believe he was shot by his girlfriend’s 17-year-old brother during a confrontation. The teenager was arrested and charged with murder.

Six days later, a man walking down Freeport Boulevard near Meadowview Road was jumped by three assailants in their mid-20s. The attack left the victim unconscious with facial fractures. The next day, the victim checked into an emergency room. By July 23, he was dead. Police have announced no arrests.

June ended with the discovery of a body with traumatic injuries inside a green Ford Explorer parked on Coyle Avenue in Carmichael. The Sheriff’s Department is treating the case as a homicide.

On July 12, a call for “shots fired” brought police to a North Sacramento neighborhood, where they found a man dead at the scene. No motive has been established.

Before the week was out, a man was shot in his vehicle on Andalusian Drive south of the city limits. Sheriff’s detectives determined the man was driving with three friends when a round struck him. The victim lost control of his SUV before smashing into a SMUD power box. He was dead by the time deputies arrived. No arrests have been made.

And on July 21, a party in Fair Oaks turned deadly when a man was fatally shot around 1:30 a.m. Deputies said they arrived to find the victim bleeding in the middle of Fair Oaks Boulevard as party-goers fled the scene. No arrests have been made.