Three People Shot, One Dead in Sacramento Gas Station Shooting

A Sacramento Police spokesman says homicide detectives are on the scene, as investigators try to piece together the details.

Scene of fatal shooting in Sacramento. Photos by Tim King - Salem-News.com

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - "Pop, pop pop pop pop" - the sound of a gun interrupted an otherwise quite morning in Sacramento today. This reporter was in traffic about 75 feet from the scene of the shooting. It happened just after 11:30 at the busy Arco station on Mack Road in Sacramento.

Doug North, spokesman for Sacramento Police, tells Salem-News that three people were shot in the incident. One man who was critically injured died at the scene. I observed an African-American man lying on the ground, not moving. He was adjacent to a white car in the parking lot that had at least one tire shot out.

North says the call reporting shots fired, was received by dispatchers at 11:31 a.m.

"Reports came in that three individuals were shot, one critical, died at the scene, homicide detectives have been called out, there are a large amount of witnesses in the area.

North says police investigators are trying to piece together the details.

"We know from the preliminary investigation, that two vehicles were involved, there was some type of verbal interaction, possibly an altercation, then the shooting occurred when one occupant shot at the other vehicle striking the other individuals."

North says it is too soon to know what exactly happened. He says more information on the victims and suspects will be released later today.

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With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim King reporting from the war in Iraq

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.