UPDATE 4/11/24: Two male suspects, a 17-year old and 16-year old, were arrested in relation to the March 21 shooting and carjacking incidents and booked into juvenile hall, according to the Sacramento City Police Department and KCRA.
A fatal shooting at the University/65th Street light rail station and carjacking on Folsom Boulevard ended with suspects eluding police on Thursday.
The shooting took place around 3 p.m. on Thursday, during Sacramento State’s spring break. The Sacramento Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting shots fired and discovered 25-year-old Levell Murphy deceased at the scene.
Two other victims, a man and a woman, were injured and taken to local hospitals after the incident. During this time, Sac PD confirmed that the carjacking of a gray Honda Civic also took place by the light rail station.
RELATED: BREAKING: One dead and two injured in near-campus shooting and carjacking
Police closed the area around the light rail station extending into the Hampton Inn & Suites driveway to the south and the section of Q Street directly to the north of the station.
The suspects in the case have been described in the initial Sac PD press release as two African-American males, one wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans and the other wearing a gray sweatshirt and black jeans.
The shooting and carjacking crimes are believed to be related. After stealing the Honda Civic, the suspects entered Sac State’s campus and ditched the stolen vehicle in Parking Lot 2, on the northeast side of campus near Del Norte Hall. The suspects then evaded police efforts to locate them while officers searched the campus near the levee by the Guy West Bridge. Sac PD said the suspects were believed to be armed and dangerous.
The police spent the evening searching multiple areas including Sac State’s campus around the American River and the campus commons neighborhood near campus. Sac State police assisted Sac PD in searching the campus as well as the Guy West Bridge and the levee.
At 4:30 p.m., Sac State police sent a campus announcement via email that they were assisting Sac PD in searching the levee to the east of campus for the two carjacking suspects. According to Sac State police, there was no immediate threat to campus.
RELATED: Shooting and carjacking incidents leave Sac State students wishing for more communication
Around this time, detectives and CSI from Sac PD were also beginning to process the crime scene at the light rail station. Sac PD Public Information Officer Anthony Gamble said the light rail station would be closed at least for the night and possibly through the weekend.
Sacramento Regional Transit said in a press release that the station was “immediately closed,” and established a bus bridge or shuttle bus service between the 29th Street and Sunrise Blvd light rail stations. RT also stated in the release that the light rail station reopened Friday morning.
Sac State police released a campus announcement on Friday acknowledging that while campus police were assisting in the search for the suspects, they “told concerned people who reached out to them to shelter in place as a precaution.”
The University and Sac State Police are reviewing communication procedures and will find ways to improve messaging going forward, according to the Friday announcement.
The Sac City PD press release is asking any witnesses with information about this case to contact the dispatch center at (916) 808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at (916) 443-HELP (4357).
