Three Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies opened fire after authorities said an armed man reached toward a gun near an Arden-Arcade car wash.
SACRAMENTO, CA — A man died after three Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies shot him Sunday morning near Marconi Avenue in the Arden-Arcade area after responding to a report of an armed man sleeping outside a car wash, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The encounter began around 11 a.m. Oct. 4 in the 4000 block of Marconi Avenue, near Eastern Avenue. Authorities said a caller reported seeing an unknown man sleeping outside the business with a handgun. The caller also told deputies the man resembled someone who had fired at the caller and the caller’s partner the previous night. Investigators had not established whether the two incidents were connected.
Deputies found the man sleeping on the ground when they arrived, according to accounts of the Sheriff’s Office briefing. Authorities said deputies initially kept their distance and used a vehicle horn to wake him. The Sheriff’s Office said the man grabbed the gun and moved it closer to himself as deputies gave him commands.
Authorities said the man eventually stood with his hands raised. The Sheriff’s Office said he then reached toward the firearm and turned toward a deputy. Three deputies opened fire, according to the agency’s account reported by local news organizations. Authorities had not released body-camera footage or other video publicly by Sunday evening that would independently show the encounter.
The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name had not been publicly released. The Sheriff’s Office indicated he may have been unhoused, but additional information about him was not immediately available. No deputies were injured.
The caller’s report about the previous night remains a separate and unresolved part of the investigation. Authorities said the caller believed the man at the car wash matched the description of the person involved in that earlier shooting. The Sheriff’s Office had not confirmed that the man killed Sunday was responsible for the earlier gunfire, and no such connection had been established publicly.
The circumstances leading directly to the deputies’ decision to fire are also under investigation. The Sheriff’s Office account that the man reached toward a firearm represents the agency’s preliminary description of the shooting. Investigators had not publicly released a complete timeline, the names of the deputies or additional evidence from the scene as of Sunday.
The three deputies involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave, according to local reports citing the Sheriff’s Office. Administrative leave is part of the process following a law enforcement shooting and does not by itself establish wrongdoing by an officer.
The shooting remains under investigation. Authorities had not announced a final determination about the deputies’ use of force or confirmed whether the man killed Sunday was connected to the shooting reported the previous night. Additional information, including the man’s identity and further evidence surrounding the encounter, had not been released.
Author note: Last updated October 5, 2026.