NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. — A violent night and early morning in Sacramento County left two people dead, including a high school senior
The community is devastated, especially those at Grant Union High School where one of the victims was supposed to graduate Thursday night.
His friend Joshua Hamilton said they were excited for the upcoming commencement.
“You are always going to laugh when he come around. He was there for you when times got hard. Stuff got hard, you know you could call on him,” said Hamilton.
Joshua Hamilton last spoke to his friend hours before the graduating senior was shot in North Highlands Wednesday night. They were talking about the excitement of walking together at graduation.
Now, Hamilton will be remembering the day for a different reason.
“It’s frustrating seeing a life took so young and just knowing that I know his family is going through it. Because today, they were expecting to see their son graduate and that not being able to happen, it hurts. It hurts a lot,” said Hamilton.
Community activist Berry Accius is concerned at the significant amount of violence in the community before the start of summer, especially when it includes young people. He said tragedies will continue without intervention and prevention
“Solutions look like resources. Solutions look like we don’t have to come to the table every year asking for money to support our young people,” said Accius.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the shooting are all isolated incidents and are not connected. Sgt. Amar Gandhi, spokesperson for the sheriff's office, said when it comes to protecting the youth in the community, they know it’s difficult for parents
“It’s 10’clock. Do you know where your children are? Nothing good happens after 10 o’clock, and this is sadly becoming the case on that," he said. "Keep tabs on on who they're with, keep tabs on what they're doing, what they're doing on their phones -- all these little things that we kind of preach and it’s proving itself over and over,” said Gandhi.
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