A man shot and killed his three daughters and a chaperone before turning the gun on himself at a church in the Sacramento, California, suburbs on Monday evening, authorities said.
Deputies responded to the church in the Arden-Arcade neighborhood of Sacramento on Monday evening after a church employee heard gunshots and called 911, said Sgt Rod Grassmann with the Sacramento county sheriff’s office.
The deputies found five people dead, including the gunman David Mora Rojas, 39. The county coroner on Tuesday identified the victims as Mora Rojas’ three daughters Samarah Mora Gutierrez, nine, Samantha Mora Gutierrez, 10, and Samia Mora Gutierrez, 13, and Nathaniel Kong, a 59-year-old church employee supervising a visit between the gunman and his children. The shooting had occurred in the main sanctuary area, Grassman said.
The Sacramento county sheriff, Scott Jones, said Monday evening that investigators believe that the shooter had been estranged from the children’s mother, who had a restraining order against him. A domestic violence restraining order should have prevented Mora Rojas from having weapons, Jones said.
The mother was not present at the church at the time of the shooting and was unharmed, Jones said.
Investigators believe the shooting happened during a supervised visit with the children, Jones added. A church employee contacted police, telling a dispatcher there was “a man with a gun in the church shooting”. Local media footage from KCRA captured authorities removing one victim on a stretcher and performing CPR, but that person later died.
Mora Rojas was arrested in Merced county days before the shooting for allegedly driving under the influence, resisting arrest and assaulting a California Highway Patrol officer, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Court records show the mother of Mora Rojas’s children had a five-year domestic violence restraining order against him, issued last May, which required he stay at least 100 yards from her and their daughters with the exception of visits supervised by a family friend, the Bee reported.
She had told the court that Mora Rojas was dangerous and that he had abused her for a decade and threatened to kill her, according to the LA Times. She sought restraining orders for their children as well, but the court permitted Mora Rojas to have supervised visits.
Officials did not know if the family members belonged to the church, which sits on a mostly residential block near a commercial area east of downtown Sacramento.
It was not immediately known how many people were at the church or if there were any services or activities at the time of the shooting. Officials said they did not believe there were any other victims or suspects.
Another senseless act of gun violence in America - this time in our backyard. In a church with kids inside. Absolutely devastating.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 1, 2022
Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and their communities.
We are working closely with local law enforcement.
“This is an unspeakable tragedy,” said Darrell Steinberg, the Sacramento mayor. “It happens too often, and tonight it happened in our backyard.”
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, called the rampage “another senseless act of gun violence in America” and said the state was working closely with local authorities.
The number of Americans killed in mass shootings is on the rise, according to a recent study. Daily gun violence has also soared during the pandemic. The US saw its largest-ever recorded annual increase in murders in 2020 as the national murder rate rose nearly 30%, according to FBI statistics.
