Gregory Grimes: Police name victim of Sacramento nightclub shooting

Police search the scene for clues after the nightclub shooting  (AP)
Police search the scene for clues after the nightclub shooting (AP)

A former high school American football star has been named as the victim of a nightclub shooting in downtown Sacramento.

Gregory Grimes, 31, was killed in the shooting which left four others wounded as the club let out patrons at 2am on Monday.

Police released very little information about the shooting and asked witnesses to come forward with any additional information and to submit possible video evidence.

Grimes, the father of a four-year-old boy, was a former football star from Inderkum High School and Boise State University. He had returned to coach at the high school after college and last year started a staffing company.

His mother, Deborah Grimes, told the newspaper that her son was killed leaving the Mix nightclub and she doesn’t believe he was targeted.

“He’s never been in the streets or anything, he doesn’t have that kind of background,” she said, adding he was looking forward to celebrating the July 4 holiday with his son.

“You just would never think that someone like him would be murdered. He just doesn’t fit a profile of a troublemaker or anything like that.”

She added: “I can’t explain how devastating this is right now.”

Police did not immediately disclose any information about a suspect or suspects.

It was Sacramento’s second shooting in the city’s downtown area this year. Six people were killed and 12 wounded in an April shooting between rival gangs.

In that shooting, 100 shots were fired as people left bars and nightclubs in the downtown area, which is just blocks from the Capitol.

It came hours before at least six people were shot dead at a 4th of July parade in Illinois, with police still hunting the suspect.

The parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, was stopped around ten minutes after beginning at 10am local time when multiple shots were fired.

A rifle was recovered at the scene but authorities said they are still searching for the suspect and called it an active incident.