At 8:05 am this morning, Sacramento County Sheriff officers were dispatched to Campanile Way in Rio Linda, after a 911 advised that there was a possibly suicidal subject on scene. The callers advised that the subject was in the bathroom, bloodied and armed with a knife.
Upon arrival, Sheriff Deputies attempted to call the subject out of the garage. Once he responded, he advanced toward the sidewalk, still armed with a knife.
Sacramento County Sheriff Public Information Officer Amar Ghandi says that multiple “less-lethal” rounds were fired at the subject, but were ineffective.
Eyewitnesses say that the subject continued to advance, but failed to heed officer warnings. Two officers fired three shots, and the subject was pronounced dead on the scene.
We observed multiple homes in the area with security cameras, and Deputy Ghandi said that the body camera footage of the incident would be released.
Sheriff Jim Cooper arrived later to observe the investigation.
Speaking to the victim’s sister briefly, (She was grief-stricken, obviously), she said that her brother was schizophrenic and mentally ill, and she had called multiple times over the past week to get him some help. Speaking to Medi-Cal, they said it would have been over a month to get him into any kind of care.
The scanner audio is interesting. The call went out to deputies (Units 15 Boy and 17 Boy) at 8:05 am, and were on scene less than 10 minutes later.
at 8:28am, 12 Sam, (A Sergeant) asks one of the responding units to call him on the phone.
At 8:30, just 2 minutes later, 12 Sam, seemingly agitated that he wasn’t acknowledged before, says “12 Sam, I copy the updates, units on scene back off from him and give me a call please.”
At 8:32, the shots fired call went out, along with “Suspect down”.
(Update) The Sheriff PIO sent out this media release the next day:
OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING IN RIO LINDA
At approximately 8:15 AM on Saturday, March 23, 2024, Deputies responded to a residence on the 6500 block of Campanile Street in Rio Linda for a suicidal subject. The caller reported that her brother, later identified as 38-year-old Christopher Gilmore, had schizophrenia, was armed with a knife, and was cutting himself in a bathroom. Prior to Deputies arriving on scene, all family members had exited the residence, and Gilmore was inside by himself. The Sacramento Metro Fire Department staged nearby until Deputies could arrive.
When Deputies arrived, they attempted to call him outside the residence, but he refused. Per one of Gilmore’s roommates, Gilmore made statements that he wanted to die by “suicide by cop.” Deputies learned Gilmore was on probation and had just been arrested six days earlier (March 17, 2024) by another agency for PC 69 (violently resisting an officer) and other charges, including vandalism, DUI,
and drug charges. The courts had since released him on his own recognizance as a pre-trial release.
Approximately 10 minutes after Deputies arrived, Gilmore opened the garage while holding a knife. Deputies backed away toward the sidewalk and street while directing him to drop the knife and exit toward them. Gilmore refused as Deputies continued to attempt to give him directives. Approximately five minutes into this interaction, Gilmore exited the garage while still holding the knife and began advancing toward Deputies. One Deputy deployed multiple less lethal shotgun rounds at Gilmore to try and stop and disarm him, but they were ineffective. Despite multiple directives to stop and being hit with multiple less lethal rounds, Gilmore continued to advance and came within just several feet of a Deputy while still holding the knife before the Deputy shot him with his service
weapon.
Deputies administered first aid on the scene, including applying tourniquets and a chest seal until fire personnel arrived. Unfortunately, Gilmore was pronounced deceased at the scene. The investigation into this incident is still ongoing and will be conducted by the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau and Professional Standards Division, which is standard practice for any officer-involved
shooting that occurs in the Sheriff’s Office’s jurisdiction. An independent review of the incident will be conducted by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. In accordance with the Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures, the Deputy involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.
