Students speak out about Sac City shooting

Following a fatal shooting that occurred on the Sacramento City College campus on Sept. 3, which left two people injured and one dead, students and staff shared how the incident has affected them.

Students from Cosumnes River College and Sac City shared their thoughts about the shooting and how it was handled by Los Rios Police Department and the Sacramento Police Department.

Los Rios Community College Chancellor Brian King issued a statement on Sept. 4 about the shooting to LRCCD faculty, staff and students.

“I am proud of our faculty, staff and students who reacted admirably in the midst of this unthinkable and senseless ordeal,” King said in an email sent out to LRCCD faculty and staff. “A special thanks to our Los Rios Police officers for their professional and compassionate response to the first shooting ever on a Los Rios college campus.”

Some CRC students said they are still feeling affected of the shooting because the proximity of the incident.

“I was surprised, I didn’t think it was real, it was so close by and I went there last semester,” said 20-year-old communications major Maritza Carilo.

Other students said they feared for their family and friends who attended Sac City that day like  Brittany Giles, 19, a liberal studies major.

“I was really scared for my best friend and all the students at Sacramento City College,” Giles said.

Sacramento City College’s Public Information Officer Rick Brewer said in an interview with Capital Public Radio that the first response went out via email to faculty and staff at 4:18 p.m. The text message didn’t reach students until 4:45 p.m., Brewer said.

“What surprised me the most was that the school didn’t inform my best friend about the shooting until 40 minutes after the incident had occurred, and that was very upsetting,” Giles said.

Several students said they felt the same way Giles did about the response time and others said there could be some improvements to campus security.

“If I was in charge of our school safety, I’d make sure that there was a stronger security presence at all the schools,” said 19-year-old psychology major, Francisco Saldana. “Being a security guard myself, I know how effective that is.”

“I would suggest to school officials to place more armed security guards around key points on campuses and some who are also in plain clothes, so that we know that we are safe and protected,” Saldana said.

King also sent out an email to inform LRCCD faculty and staff that there would be a review of the response to the shooting.

“To that end, I have directed our General Counsel, J.P. Sherry, to coordinate an external review of the timeline of events last Thursday and propose recommendations to strengthen preparation for possible future incidents as we move forward together,” King said.

Staff writers LeShea Munoz and Matt Johnson contributed to this story.