Sacramento-area Halloween party shooting ‘like pandemonium’ as hundreds fled to safety

Three days after someone opened fire at a large Halloween party, Sacramento County sheriff ’s investigators continued to look for those responsible for the shooting that killed two men and injured five other people.

The shooting at the Erotic Exotic Halloween Ball, which hosted at least a few hundred people at the Royal Castle Banquet Hall, appeared to be the most chaotic scene in a weekend of deadly incidents in the Sacramento area.

Fatalities over the past few days included two street vendors struck by a car in North Highlands, a pedestrian hit by a sheriff ’s patrol vehicle near Elk Grove, a pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run in Natomas and another woman killed in a hitand-run in midtown Sacramento.

There also was an early Saturday assault and robbery on two Sacramento State students near on-campus housing and a man seriously injured in a Halloween night shooting at a south Sacramento Walmart.

Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a spokesman for the Sacramento County

Sheriff ’s Office, said the aftermath of the Halloween party shooting seemed

“like pandemonium” as deputies arrived and found hundreds of partygoers leaving the venue.

Deputies asked everyone to stay to answer questions. Understandably, many chose to get away from the venue to safety as soon as possible, he said.

“When deputies arrive at a scene like that, you want to talk to everyone,” Grassmann told The Sacramento Bee. “There will be evidence scattered everywhere.”

He said it can be a difficult task for investigators to question as many witnesses as possible as they try to secure the scene. Crime scene investigators spent a long time collecting evidence in and around the venue, according to Grassmann.

At 12:56 a.m. Saturday, deputies were called to the reported shooting at the banquet hall at 5560 Palm Ave., just east of Garfield Avenue. The venue is adjacent to a Sheriff ’s

Office substation.

Grassmann said deputies arrived within a few minutes of the first 911 call reporting the shooting. He said deputies from the North Division, along with others from throughout the city, responded to the shooting.

Deputies found three men with gunshot wounds. Two were pronounced dead at the scene by medics, and the third was taken to a hospital with serious injuries but in stable condition. Later, deputies were told four others also were shot and taken to hospitals by others at the party before law enforcement arrived at the venue.

“It appeared that it was so loud, that some of (the party attendees) didn’t hear the gunshots,” Grassmann said. “This was a doublehomicide that included collateral victims. There was just too many people, and certainly an awful thing to happen.”

Sheriff ’s officials had not made any arrests in connection with the shooting, and investigators did not have any suspect descriptions to release.

Mom says son killed “for no reason”

One of the men struck and killed by gunfire was Terrance Long, according to his mother, Pamela Welch. She said she and her family were mourning the loss of her son, and she created a Gofundme online fundraiser to help pay for his funeral costs.