SACRAMENTO, Calif. — "We were clearing the area, trying to get people to comply with heading over. The night was over," recalled Ken Twitty.
Twitty is the general manager of the popular K Street nightlife businesses Dive Bar and District 30.
"About a minute or two after that is when the shots started going off and people started scattering all different directions," said Twitty.
The shooting between what law enforcement says were rival gangs happened in the early morning hours of April 3, 2022, leaving six dead and a dozen more injured.
To staff of popular K Street bars, the victims were familiar faces.
"Some of my staff recognized them. They knew them. It was tough on the bartenders, bottle servers, security," said Twitty. "One of the young ladies had been in the week before. Another young lady who lost her life, who was an innocent victim in it, had been in the night before... so, that hurts."
Even those linked to the shooting were at his bar, District 30, about 45 minutes prior to shots being fired.
Twitty noted law enforcement used the security footage for their investigation. Officers saw District 30 complied with wanding and checking IDs. One person involved left at 1:15 a.m. while another left at 1:20 a.m., said Twitty.
Because security footage is part of the investigation, ABC10 couldn't obtain the video, but what Twitty saw sticks with him to this day.
"People hiding on our video and everything," said Twitty. "You can see them hiding behind trees... dropping to the ground and lying flat trying to make sure they weren't hit."
Business was greatly impacted after the shooting and it took months for his bars to recover with the normal amount of customers.
"I don't think District 30 really started to recover until mid-August," said Twitty.
It was a struggle on top of a rough couple of years; the pandemic hurt many K Street businesses.
"K Street has so many vacancies," said Twitty.
Those who work along K Street told ABC10 more needs to be done by city officials for it to come back alive and be safe.
"The block over from us, between 9th and 10th, there's one business that's open past 9 p.m.," said Twitty. "Which means there's no lighting up and no positive energy to help with the environment at night."
Along with vacancies, a lack of lighting is a problem. It was a concern voiced in re-occurring meetings held after the shooting between city officials, law enforcement and business leaders along K Street.
"There were meetings with police and Downtown Sac Partnership and (as) venues we kept pushing for lighting," said Twitty. "It took 10 months for it to happen. Unfortunately, those meetings aren't taking place anymore so we don't have that direct communication."
ABC10 went to Sacramento's Nighttime Economy Manager Tina Lee-Vogt - a new position created after the shooting. Lee-Vogt works with businesses, residents and various city departments to enhance nighttime economy.
As for how the city is staying in contact with businesses without this reoccurring meeting?
"It's something that unfortunately ebbs and flows when I started doing this job," said Lee-Vogt.
She says the city hired consultants to do an assessment of K Street.
"What that is, is really identifying our challenges and opportunities and seeing what we can do," said Lee-Vogt, noting the first phase of the assessment was recently completed and a "blueprint" for the assessment as a whole should be in place by fall 2023.
"We're getting a lot of feedback from different people, but we do need to do something with our vacant spaces," said Lee-Vogt.
It's why she's looking to use vacant locations as possible venues for live music.
"Which would be really exciting because that adds vibrancy to the area," said Lee-Vogt. "But it also helps our creative economy."
Businesses ABC10 spoke with that did not want to go on-camera told us they don't believe the city is doing enough to ensure the area thrives.
Where the most change has happened since the shooting is not on K Street, but in different areas throughout the city of Sacramento.
"A lot of the violent crime in our city is committed in very small geographic areas and really just by a small handful of people," said Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester.
Data from Sacramento Police shows that 45% of violent crime in the 100-mile-radius of the city occurs within just seven square miles in areas like Oak Park, Del Paso Heights and South Sacramento.
"If you ever expect things to change within your community and within the city, you have to take a look at these root causes and see what you can do to change the trajectory," said Lester.
Lester took over the Sacramento Police Department just weeks prior to the K Street shooting. She said the K Street shooting helped her implement a new approach to tackling violence.
"You need to understand why violence occurs and what you can do about it," said Lester.
She and her team are targeting those areas to truly understand the causes behind violence there, and are working with organizations in these communities to address issues.
"By working with them in partnership, we're able to really change people's lives," said Lester.
Sacramento Police say they're working with the following community-based organizations on this initiative:
One of Sacramento Police's partnerships is with Brother 2 Brother, an organization focused on gang violence prevention and intervention. The organization's CEO and founder, Mervin Brookins, believes this new approach is already making a difference.
"If you think about it, since this past (K Street) shooting there hasn't been a lot of gang violence throughout Sacramento," said Brookins. "That's a direct result of this collaboration."
Brookins knew a number of people involved with the K Street shooting.
"(It was) very, very difficult because a few of those young men were on the path to turning their lives around and getting out of gang violence," said Brookins.
He said Chief Lester's approach is "brilliant" because it re-defines public safety to involve organizations with roots deep within their communities.
"We have people in every neighborhood that are respected by their neighborhood, known in their neighborhood," said Brookins. "It's always easier to allow those people to be mediators."
And get to the cause behind violence, in hopes of preventing shootings like K Street far before they ever happen.
"It's been a great collaboration because now we're teammates with law enforcement," said Brookins. "The hardest thing about that is when we're successful in doing what we're doing, nothing happens -- so, how do you celebrate nothing happening?"
Celebration also comes in the form of safety. When asked whether or not people should feel safe coming to K Street, especially at night, Chief Lester said, "Absolutely."
"I think you'll find when you come down here, it's a really neat scene. This is what Sacramento is about," said Lester - noting it's especially vibrant with the Kings heading to the NBA Playoffs. "It really makes us a unique city - it's what makes us Sacramento, and Sacramento isn't Sacramento without the people."
For those who were there a year ago and witnessed the tragic K street shooting, the images of that night are still present.
"I've seen fights. I've seen unfortunate events - someone get stabbed or someone get shot," said Twitty. "But this is the biggest one-time event that took place."
Twitty hopes people and city leaders will keep victims of the shooting in their memory while they work to make K Street a place to enjoy.
"The more we have positive energy in the area, the better it will be and businesses will grow and recover," said Twitty.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: K Street Shootout | Breaking down Sacramento's gang problem
