Credit: ABC 10/CanvaOn Friday afternoon, a car fired three shots into ABC10’s building in Sacramento, California. The three shots were aimed at a lobby window. While the building was occupied at the time of the drive-by shooting, no one was injured by the gunshots.
Less than 24 hours after this incident, Sacramento Police arrested 64-year-old Anibal Hernandez Santana after an investigation of the vehicle involved in the incident led them to his home. He was charged with felonies that include shooting into an occupied building, assault with a deadly weapon, and negligent discharge of a firearm. He was released on $200,000 bail.
Police have yet to release a motive for this violence. However, the station was being protested the previous day after Disney suspended late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Police have not said if Hernandez Santana was involved in the protest or if that was his main reason for this act of violence.
TEGNA, which owns the ABC-affiliated station, released a statement to NPR saying that it had increased security around the building and “our priority is to ensure our employees’ safety and well-being as they continue to carry out our mission to serve our community with critical local news and information.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom released a statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “any act of violence toward journalists is an attack on our democracy itself and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
According to Variety, Hernandez Santana was a legislative director for the California Federation of Teachers and is now retired. Little else is known about his potential motives or political associations.
This attack comes at a time when journalists are facing increased threats and violence, and the First Amendment is under attack. The National Association of Black Journalists Sacramento chapter told NPR, “violence against members of the media is violence against our entire community,”
Hernandez Santana is due in court on Tuesday.