By Kathleen Ronayne and Stefanie Dazio, AP
A man who was under a restraining order and not supposed to have a gun fatally shot his three daughters, a chaperone and himself during a supervised visit with the girls at a California church, officials said Tuesday.
Investigators were trying to piece together the father’s motive and how he got the weapon used in the shooting that occurred at about 5 p.m. Monday. Under California state law, he was not supposed to have a gun because of the restraining order.
On Tuesday morning, a small memorial with flowers, balloons, stuffed animals, a candle and a piece of paper that read “Prayers for peace, may your souls rest” was set up outside the church in the Arden-Arcade neighborhood of Sacramento.
The girls — ages 9, 10 and 13 — attended schools in the Natomas Unified School District in northwestern Sacramento. Counselors and chaplains were at the schools Tuesday to provide support.
“There are very few words that can give comfort right now for this unspeakable tragedy,” the school district said in a statement.
Yadira Ortega lives across the street from the church and said she heard the gunfire while sitting in her car after returning home from picking up takeout dinner for her family. She was with her 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.
Ortega said there were multiple shots, then a pause before a final shot. Minutes later the area was swarming with police, she said.
Ortega said she knew little about the non-demoninational church named The Church in Sacramento and said it’s busy on Sundays but mostly quiet during the week.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office has offered few details about the shooting inside the church, which sits on a mostly residential block near a commercial area east of downtown Sacramento. Authorities have not disclosed the names of the 39-year-old gunman or the victims and have not said what type of weapon used.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said the shooter was estranged from his daughters’ mother, who had a restraining order against him. Detectives are treating the shooting as a domestic violence incident.
Investigators believe the shooting happened during a supervised visit for the father inside the church with the children and a chaperone who also was killed.
Joyce Bilyeu, deputy director of the Sacramento Regional Family Justice Center, said the specifics of supervised visitations can vary widely.
Sometimes, a victim will request that a pastor or grandparent be the chaperone in their home or church, she said. Other victims seek professional supervision with a trained mediator in a safe location close to law enforcement, but that option can be costly, Bilyeu said.
Bilyeu said visits in places like churches can give victims a false sense of security.
“Generally a lot of people think a church is a safe place,” she said. But “there’s no metal detectors in a church.”
A restraining order, while a typical part of the process in domestic violence cases, should not be considered a solution or deterrent to abuse, she said.
“It is not a shield of armor,” Bilyeu said.
A man who emerged Tuesday from the church several times to talk to reporters outside said the church is made up of multiple buildings, including a living space where he and several other members live.
The man, who only gave his name as Alfredo, said he was in the church’s main building when the shooting happened and that neighbors called police because he did not have a phone.
He declined to provide more details, saying church elders planned to issue a statement later.
Officials did not know if the victims attended the church. No events for Monday were listed on the church’s online calendar.
After the shooting, California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted: “Another senseless act of gun violence in America — this time in our backyard. In a church with kids inside. Absolutely devastating.”
Newsom last month proposed letting private citizens in California sue gun makers to stop them from selling assault weapons.
Got this news last night when it first broke out on the wire. Our own church’s security team will be discussing it at the next (upcoming) meeting.
Supervised visitation. Restraining Order in force. Father was not supposed to have a gun in the first place. So many ways something can go wrong, and so many ways someone intent on causing harm can choose to commit it. I myself carry at church.
My prayers are for the mother who was informed that the man she sought the Court’s protection from found a way to murder her three girls.
Maaaayyybbbeee, they could give him a card to keep in his wallet that says: “Remember, you’re not allowed to have a gun. Or shoot anyone.” Then he’d see if every time he bought a green juice, and be reminded.
Yep, nothing says love in a psycho’s mind like murdering their own children. Is it me or does he look like the gangster from the TV series Weeds?
Did the gun make an escape, get arrested or did it commit suicide too? After all “gun violence” implies the gun was 50% responsible and the perp was 50% responsible. By the logic surrounding gun violence the two conspired to commit the murders.
“The trigger pulls the finger.” – Libbrul whizzdumb.
How does a woman allow a man like this to father her children?
Do you think a woman can drive a husband insane?
It is usually the kids that do that, but not sweet little girls.
“How does a woman allow a man like this to father her children?”
How did yours allow you to father hers?
Well Geoff, considering how many times you have mentioned you “have never felt the touch of a woman” I understand why you would ask that question.
However, since you also mentioned how you are a little man, in your words “a very little man”, telling you how to father a child wouldn’t help you much.
Looks like you are going to have to continue to sit this one out Geoff.
This ‘man’s’ lifelong involuntary celibacy streak continues unabated.
You should probably read or listen to a lot of psychology and neurophysiology. The TLDR is Women are attracted to guys who push the edge. They don’t realize until it is too late, and they have chemically bonded to the man that he is actually way over the edge. Humans are highly variable so will see a lot do this and a lot not do this. But the pattern of women selecting bad relationships is clear enough over decades. Even centuries.
I would not discount the effect our divorce laws have had on this Father. The Divorce Industrial Complex was created by the sexually liberated. Who did not believe a father was necessary in the home. Only his money.
Many men have come to understand this. And these men now use an acronym called MGTOW. These are not all Violent Men. But they have come to understand that it’s the government, that is coming between them and their relationship with their woman, and their children.
Chris, if that were true, I would expect them to kill the government, not their children.
LarryinTx you sir win the dumbest comment of the week, beating out your closest competitor dacian, congrats Larry!
Chris, look no further than this fact, ” 70% (some say 80%) of divorces are initiated by women. And 90% of divorces are initiated by women with college-educated couples.”
Women understand for them, there is little downside in a divorce, as they will receive custody of the kids, the house, and at least half the money (often much more).
Studies now show a direct correlation between a woman’s premarital sexual past and her ability to bond to her husband in marriage.
Crimson, I agree with your assessment, and submit we have all witnessed it. Often what turns a woman on, and what a woman says she desires, are polar opposites.
The U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households, and over 80% of those families are single mother head of household.
40% of all live births in the US are to single mothers. 90% of welfare recipients are single mothers. 70% of gang members, high school dropouts, teen suicides, teen pregnancies and teen substance abusers come from single mother homes.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/
LarryinTx you sir win the dumbest comment of the week, beating out your closest competitor dacian, congrats Larry!
Chris, look no further than this fact, ” 70% (some say 80%) of divorces are initiated by women. And 90% of divorces are initiated by women with college-educated couples.”
Women understand that for them, there is little downside in a divorce, as they will receive custody of the kids, the house, and at least half the money (often much more).
Studies now show a direct correlation between a woman’s premarital sexual past and her ability to bond to her husband in marriage.
Crimson, I agree with your assessment, and submit we have all witnessed it. Often what turns a woman on, and what a woman says she desires, are polar opposites.
The U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households, and over 80% of those families are single mother head of household.
40% of all live births in the US are to single mothers. 90% of welfare recipients are single mothers. 70% of gang members, high school dropouts, teen suicides, teen pregnancies and teen substance abusers come from single mother homes.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation” for nearly 2 hours.
Perhaps it is time to disable the highly flawed comment moderation.
It looks like the last time he was busted for the mug shot he resisted arrest and received some “police brutality” during the process of resisting arrest.
I’m quite sure a few more laws would’ve prevented this!!
This is so evil. Maybe it’s unfair to second guess the courts, but if he’s dangerous enough for a restraining order, perhaps the chaperone should have been an armed peace officer.
And armed officer is just as easy to kill as anyone else if you kill them before they have a chance to respond. The government is also not in the protecting anyone business and if you want an armed officer you have to pay an off-duty out of your own pocket. I’ve done it many many times.
Rokurota,
This is just the latest example of a sad reality: a husband who beats his wife is capable of anything–including murdering said wife and her children.
There are only two ways to ensure the future safety of the wife and her children:
If the scumbag husband has minimal resources and is not particularly smart nor ambitious, the wife and children can move across country and live the rest of their lives in peace and safety as long as they stay off of social media.
If the husband has decent resources or is fairly smart and ambitious, the wife and children will be in danger until the husband is in prison or incapacitated.
Many times the woman is locked into the state and can not move out with the children if their is a custody agreement. You can be sure that a man who feels himself victimized by the court system will never agree to that.
rt66paul,
Sad but true.
The wife’s best strategy in that scenario is to establish her husband’s abuse (with photos and even better with audio and video recordings) and then petition the court to deny the husband’s joint custody and let her leave the state with her children.
Of course that assumes that the wife has the resources and opportunity to purchase and install hidden cameras/recorders and hire an attorney to petition the courts accordingly–which is nearly impossible for many battered wives.
I would expect that at least some errant husbands would straighten up if they arrived at the home they were restrained from visiting and got a close-up look at mama’s new 12 ga. pump’s front view.
I AGREE. A RESTRAINING ORDER IS NO PROTECTION. NEITHER IS A CHURCH. A FIREARM WORKS BETTER FOR FAMILY PROTECTION
And the only thing that turd in a human suit Governor could talk about was “Another senseless act of gun violence”…emphasis on GUN. Nothing about all the laws this sicko broke. The first and foremost being MURDER. He’s right in that it was indeed senseless…but he chose to focus on vilifying an inanimate object because it fits his agenda. This is a terrible loss of life. Those poor sweet kids. God rest their souls.
Guns make murder physically easy. Knives, clubs, bare hands take more determination and work.
All of which, according to FBI statistics, account for more homicides each year than firearms. Gasoline usually accounts for more mass murders than firearms. And then, of course, we have the old standby, kerosene and garden fertilizer when you really want to make a statement. I have a whole storage shed full of lethal instruments: axes, hammers, large wrenches, saws, pruning shears, wire, rope, insecticide, herbicide and in the garden, several plants that if ingested will result in fatal symptoms.
Then inside the house are knives, pillows, sporting equipment. towels — I believe I once read about a woman who was strangled with her own brassier. Certainly panty hose have been known to do the job. I know of an instance where a man just shook his wife and manages to break her neck during the shaking. Unlike the blackguard in the case under discussion, the perpetrator there didn’t even intend to kill his wife. She had just told him she had been cheating on him on an on-going basis and he grabbed her and shook her.
I know for a fact folks who have had a career in law enforcement on the streets can describe a very much longer list of items that have been fatality utilized.
This is so sad. Predictably, Newsom will call for more laws that will do nothing to curb the criminal. Why can’t he say an act of criminal violence and address the real problem? Political dirtbags like Newsom will do anything to try and further consolidate their own power.
Deepest condolences to the victim’s families.
Prayers for that family!
Living in society has risks, as does living in isolation. Living in a free society allows you the means to protect yourself and your family but it also provides means for the bad guys. Government exacerbates the situation when it uses tragedy to weaken our access to the means of defense that do not equally inhibit access by the bad guys.
Again, prayers!!!
Listen anyone who knows anything about firearms and the issues surrounding most gun control laws know that they are not designed to protect anyone but are designed to punish the law-abiding gun owner, period. How many people on restraining orders ignore them and get incarcerated for breaking the law? Plenty! There aren’t enough resources available either time or personnel wise to keep track of them. The anti-firearm crowd simply fabricates the narrative that suits their purpose to get these laws passed. Just like everything the Left does there is little logic or common sense in the process.
I’ve always thought that a restraining order was the same as a magical force field, that prevented whatever was being restrained.
How can the magic force field fail?
Need a dilithium crystal to power it.
Kyber crystals.
Is that why India and Pakistan are always fighting over the Khyber Pass?
Yet another photo op for Gavin Newsollini. Didn’t take him long to grandstand this event. Perhaps if he didn’t order the release of over 75,000 dangerous felons due to the coup flu, but no, guns are the problem.
A restraining order is just a piece of paper, if no one serious is around to enforce it. Kinda like the Constitution.
I would consider it a license to kill, should the person restrained show up. Maybe yes, maybe no, but doofus would never find out because he’d be dead. Anyone who believes it’s anything more than that is hallucinating.
As if there were no other means for accomplishing his dreadful objective. Morons. Liars and Morons.
How about this. He posted bail to get out of jail a week ago. Hold the person that cosigned his bail bond responsible. Let them face involuntary manslaughter, 4 counts. If they know that if the person they help bail out commits a crime, they will be held responsible too.
Then maybe scum like him will have to sit in jail or prison for a long time.
Just going to say, that unless you (or someone close to you) have been drug through the “justice system” by a vindictive someday-to-be ex, you can almost certainly see how someone can be turned to suicide or homicide, particularly when young kids are involved.
It does not justify violence, but when a “victim” has no morals, getting a restraining order is beyond simple, as is getting you dragged into a police station and being read your rights for things you didn’t do. Don’t forget there is zero tolerance for common sense when it comes to allegations and follow through. “If it saves just one life”. The repercussions to the scum that do this? None.
While obviously the victims are all innocent, note that you never see anything that paints the other spouse in a bad light. When the motive is found (say, spouse mentally broke the other one down through legal games and using kids as a weapon), we won’t hear a peep about it.
Again. No justification, but the reasons it can happen are real. Not everyone is able to mentally make it through the hole they feel they are in. This sort of thing happens far too often for the common denominator to be good people that just magically turn bad. Not saying the particular guy was good.
D Y, understand what you are saying, but methinks you are ignoring the biggest part in that charade, the divorce lawyers involved. A lot of fine ladies throw things at their husbands which they would never have dreamed of without a lot of prodding from a shyster.
If an individual doesn’t know right from wrong, that’s their fault, not those that are able to convince the weak minded. Guns dont kill people and all…
Not arguing that in some cases lawyers do “help” like that. But they also represent the stupidity of their client, whether they particularly want to, or not.
A friend was a legal secretary in a law office many years ago. She said that when the “no-fault” divorce law went into effect the lawyers threw a party to celebrate.
One of many reasons I do not go to the church we joined 10+ yrs ago anymore. I tried to get a security policy in place. EIther let the parishoners do it or hire a uniformed rent a cop, a real one, not a 8hr classroom trained rent a cop. I dont even think it was given “prayerful” consideration. I could carry concealed but that still does not address the target rich environment that a church full of people represents and that even with a rent a cop there are just too many ways to get in the buildings and too few ways to get out.
How could this happen? Doesn’t California have tough gun laws?
“Minutes later the area was swarming with police…”
Exactly ‘zero’ people served or protected.
I’m sure they’ll do a beautiful crime scene investigation, tho.
“Under California state law, he was not supposed to have a gun because of the restraining order.”
Isn’t that Federal law?
All of the above, I am sure. None of them are worth the paper they are printed on.
The feminist movement was always anti-civil rights. They were always anti-second Amendment. They never believed a woman could handle a gun on her own. They always supported the police, government intervention, in the woman’s life.
But then they supported drafting women who would end up carrying one of those “big heavy” guns. The feminists were always socialist Progressive in their political orientation. As long as the woman was issued a government gun, while wearing a government uniform, they were comfortable with that. They never wanted a woman to obtain a firearm on her own.
Another example of how gun control is a fantasy belief. Anyone who wants to commit harm will find a method to do so. Gun, knife, gasoline, club, brick, whatever is available. Deal properly with those who choose violence to sole everyday issues and the hardware will not be a problem.
Next issue is why anyone thinks a piece of paper from the courts will somehow stop a violent person from doing harm to a potential victim?
Sick bastard.
How many restraining orders does it take to stop a bullet?
CAN’T FIX THE CRAZY ONES .
WISH HE SUICIDE HIMSELF FIRST . LET THE OTHERS LIVE .
PRAYERS NEEDED ALL AROUND .
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