SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two people were shot Sunday afternoon at a Sikh temple in the Vineyard section of Sacramento County, according to authorities.
The shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. at the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society on the 7600 block of Bradshaw Road, according to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi.
It was during the temple’s first Nagar Kirtan, a traditional neighborhood celebration for Indian religions such as Sikhism.
Gandhi said a fistfight had broken out between two men on the temple grounds. One of the men, Gandhi said, shot a friend of the other combatant.
The second man involved in the fight then fired upon the first man and ran off. That second man remains at large, Gandhi said.
Asked if there was an imminent threat to the area, Gandhi said the situation “looks very contained.”
“It puts a small stain on this peaceful, very joyous day.” The two people who were wounded were hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente hospital in south Sacramento with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
Around 3:30 p.m. deputies were seen walking two men out of the parade in handcuffs, though it was unclear if either was involved in the incident.
The men were placed into the back of separate Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles as a crowd of dozens of people watched in near silence, many holding phones up to record the events.
Deputies were expected to remain at the scene through the evening combing through eyewitness statements and cellphone video.
The society Sunday held a parade as part of the festivities. County officials had closed Bradshaw Road, Vintage Park Drive, Elk Grove Florin Road and Gerber Road as part of the parade, which was scheduled to last until 5 p.m.
Just before 4 p.m., hundreds of festivalgoers were slowly filing away as dozens of deputies and a sheriff’s helicopter urged people to leave the scene. Some who had attended the festival lingered while snacking on jalebi, a sweet dessert popular in India and Pakistan.
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