Gunman Slain After Killing 2 at Library Opening

SACRAMENTO — A gunman opened fire during a celebration at the Sacramento central library Sunday, killing two people before he fled to the roof, where a police SWAT team cornered him on a ledge and shot him dead in a heavy volley of fire.

Authorities said the unidentified gunman, described as a bearded, heavyset man, ran up to the roof, where he was ordered to put down his handgun and surrender. When he refused and pointed his weapon at the SWAT officers as he leaned against the wall around the roof, they opened fire, police said. The force of the gunfire blew the gunman backward off the ledge to the street, five stories below.

“The guy apparently wanted to be dead,” said Twana Walston, a waitress who witnessed the shooting from a sidewalk. “They told him to put (his gun) down. He pointed it at them. They shot. Then he fell.”

A local television station captured the final moments of the bloody drama. KXTV footage showed the gunman standing on the roof talking to police, who were off-camera.

Footage also showed SWAT officers aiming their weapons and opening up with a collective burst of gunfire. Viewers then watched the gunman tumble over the ledge and drop toward the street.

Authorities said two people on the third floor of the library were shot and killed as library patrons and employees turned out on a beautiful spring afternoon to celebrate the first time that the recently completed $24-million library at 828 I Street, a few blocks from the Capitol, was open on a Sunday.

Bishop Francis Quinn of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento was summoned from a nearby cathedral and administered last rites to the two shooting victims, and to the gunman.

Quinn said he believed the victims in the library were a man and woman. Authorities declined to say whether they were library patrons or employees, and the Sacramento coroner’s office withheld their identities until relatives could be notified.

Sacramento Police Lt. Ray Pfeifer said investigators had not determined why the gunman, described by one witness as wearing a floppy hat and a long coat, marched into the library and up to the third floor and opened fire, fatally wounding the victims at close range. He said at least three shots were fired.

Witnesses said library patrons and employees celebrating the library’s first Sunday opening heard the shots and bolted for exits. One employee flagged down a passing police officer, who called for the SWAT team.

Pfeifer said the gunman worked his way up a stairwell from the third floor to the roof, where several SWAT officers cornered him on a ledge. “He was crouched down against a retainer wall on the roof,” Pfeifer said.

The SWAT officers told the man at least twice to drop the gun, Pfeifer said. At that point, he said, the gunman “lifted up and pointed the gun at the SWAT team members,” who shot him in a burst of fire, blowing the gunman off the roof ledge.

Witnesses said the gunman and at least two of the four SWAT officers on the roof appeared to be talking moments before.

One witness, who refused to give his name, said he watched the rooftop events unfold from a building across the street and could hear one officer say, “Let’s stop this. Put it down.”

Walston said she saw exchanges of conversation as they stood near the edge of the building, and believed “they were going to talk him down. They leaned over and told him to put down his gun and when (he) pointed it at them, they shot him.”