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‘He shot right at me’: Video shows police exchange gunfire with suspect in Sacramento

The Sacramento Police Department released body and dashboard camera footage Monday from a shootout last week in Fruitridge Manor, showing a barrage of more than a dozen shots fired between an officer and a suspect at an apartment complex.

The shooting happened Nov. 28 at apartments in the 6200 block of Lemon Hill Avenue, and led to an eight-hour manhunt ending in the arrest of the suspect, identified as Jacob Armada, 19.

Armada opened fire immediately upon being contacted by an officer, who returned fire, the Sacramento Police Department said in news releases and videos show.

The suspect was not hit by gunfire, police said; the officer who opened fire was struck in his uniform pants and was not hurt.

Police located Armada within a search perimeter and took him into custody using a K-9, the department said.

The Police Department on Monday released video as well as 911 audio from the incident, indicating that it began around 10 a.m. with a man, allegedly Armada, walking into the middle of 63rd Street at Lemon Hill Avenue with a skateboard under one arm and a gun in his other hand, waving the gun in the air while dancing.

“He got a gun, and he’s just waving it around, dancing in the street,” the initial 911 caller told dispatch, according to the audio. “He pointed it right at us.”

Dash camera video from another witness showed the suspect walking out from behind a parked vehicle and pointing a gun at an approaching SUV, which quickly reversed away from him, at which point the man started waving the gun over his head and gyrating his hips. The man was also wearing a dark-covered mask.

Responding officers located the suspect on the second floor of a nearby apartment breezeway.

Body-worn camera video shows that the first officer to arrive at the scene exited his patrol vehicle, saw the suspect near the door of a second-floor apartment and began to command, “Let’s see your f------ hands.”

The suspect opened fire as the officer began to say the word “hands,” shooting at least twice. The officer returned at least one shot, the video shows. The first officer took cover behind a fence as a second officer arrived, taking cover behind a patrol vehicle.

The first officer then told the second that the suspect was at the top of the stairs, then yelled, “Right there!” as another barrage of gunfire followed.

The first officer then reloaded his handgun, told dispatch he was hit, and fired four more shots toward the suspect. The suspect had descended the stairs and was heading around a corner near the second officer, the latter officer’s patrol vehicle dashboard camera showed.

The suspect fired another shot moments later, as the second officer ducked behind cover, video from that officer’s body camera showed.

About 15 total shots were fired during the exchange, which lasted about 40 seconds. After the shooting, the two involved officers backed out to the entrance of the apartment complex, where the first officer gasped for breath and told the second officer, “He shot right at me.”

Only the first officers fired upon the suspect, police said.

Police also released photos showing the first officer’s pant leg, with a bullet hole, and another bullet hole in his patrol vehicle.

The video released Monday did not include footage of Armada’s apprehension via K-9, which police said happened shortly after 4 p.m. that day on Dias Avenue, a few blocks away.

The department in a statement said all other “pertinent video and audio associated with this incident” would be released within 30 days of the incident, in accordance with the city’s use-of-force policy and Senate Bill 1421.

Police said last week that Armada was found hiding in a trash can within the search perimeter, and said Monday detectives recovered a firearm.

Armada remains in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, charged with attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He was treated briefly for minor injuries from the police dog.

Armada is ineligible for bail, jail records show, and returns to court Dec. 16.

A Sacramento Police Department patrol vehicle was hit by gunfire during a shootout with a suspect at an apartment complex in the 6200 block of Lemon Hill Avenue on November 28, 2021.
A Sacramento Police Department patrol vehicle was hit by gunfire during a shootout with a suspect at an apartment complex in the 6200 block of Lemon Hill Avenue on November 28, 2021.