SACRAMENTO, Calif — Sacramento Police officers seized 43 illegal guns across 40-gun related arrests in the last two weeks. The announcement comes after a string of gun violence that also took the life of 9-year-old Makayalah Brent.
Police Chief Daniel Hahn called Brent's death a tragedy.
"It's really a tragedy when anybody dies, and hopefully we don't have a small child like that die again," Hahn said.
Brent's death was one of four shootings over six hours on Oct. 3. Hahn said the gun violence is the result of a perfect storm due to inmates released with zero bail due to the pandemic.
"This is happening across the country," Hahn said. "People being release, people not being held, people not being held accountable and officers being tied up and officers being tied up on widespread protests, and that's what we've seen," Hahn said.
Sacramento saw its share of social unrest as people across the country marched to protest police killings following the death of George Floyd. Hahn said the police department's resources were tied to monitoring those protests.
"We have our specialty units that usually work on gang issues and community issues that are spending the vast amount of time at a protest," Hahn said.
Hahn did not offer any information regarding the 43 gun-related arrests.
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