CARMICHAEL-
The suspect in a shooting Monday in Carmichael has surrendered peacefully after a tense, hours-long manhunt and standoff.
The suspect has been identified as Jeremiah Hankins, 35.
According to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa Bowman, a woman was shot in the neck near Madison and Manzanita.
A postal worker and neighbors rushed to the woman’s aid, investigators said, while taking fire. No one else was reported hurt. The woman, who was in her 30s, was found lying in the driveway and was taken to a nearby hospital. Bowman said the woman is alive but her injuries are life-threatening.
Officials believe the woman was in a domestic relationship with Hankins.
The shooting happened about 9:45 a.m. Monday morning. The suspect then ran inside a duplex on the 6000 block of Madison Avenue near Manzanita where he was holed up until just after 3 p.m.
As officers approached, Hankins reportedly fired at officers, but none were hit.
Nearby homes were evacuated as SWAT officers and sheriff’s deputies converged on the home where Hankins had barricaded himself.
When the suspect exited the residence, he was seen wearing a white medical mask, which neighbors said they saw him wearing on occasion.
When Hankins was taken into custody, residents who had been evacuated from their homes could be heard cheering.
Authorities believed the suspect had at least one semi-automatic handgun, and that that was the weapon used in the shooting.
Hankins surrendered “peacefully” Monday afternoon, Bowman said. He has been transported to the Sacramento County Main Jail where he has been booked on five felony charges including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, possession of a firearm by a felon and domestic violence.
Nearby Charles Peck Elementary was given a “shelter in place” order during the standoff.
Parents were still able to drop off children at the school, but told to use Dewey and Palm as a route instead of Madison and Schuyler.
Man Describes Trying to Save Neighbor’s Life
Kevin Williams said he’s heard loud fights over the course of the last year that standoff suspect Jeremiah Hankins has lived next door with his girlfriend.
None of those scenarios prepared him for what he heard Monday morning on Madison Avenue.
“Four shots and I heard a garage door slam up. She came out screaming for help. So I came out to see what was going on,” Williams said. “Then I went in to call 911 … went back out. The mailman was stopped in front to assist her… dragged her or walked her over to the car, got her into the mail vehicle … putting pressure on her wounds to save her life until the police and fire department showed up. And I was doing what I could.”
His mind was racing as his block became a crime scene.
“Disbelief at what was going on. I been here for 28 years and none of this has ever happened on this street before,” he said.”After the mailman got her into the car, I stayed with him telling him to keep pressure on one of the wounds … the belly wound.”
According to Williams, that hero postal worker was a substitute working the route Monday.
The U.S. Postal Service would not identify the employee.
Co-workers at his base branch who didn’t want to go on camera describe him as a “really good guy” who is “coping well” given what’s happened.
Neighborhood Returns to Normal after Violent Standoff
After a Monday afternoon painfully punctuated with the sound of deputies trying to get the upper hand on a violent armed suspect, the normal sounds of a walk with the dogs returned to a Madison Avenue neighborhood in Carmichael.
Living just around the corner from where investigators say Jeremiah Hankins shot his girlfriend in the neck and shot at them over the course of more than five hours, James Richards is trying to remain objective about the place he calls home.
“It is a little strange but … these things happen. It just happened to happen around the corner from me today,” he said.
“The only time I ever see them is getting in their car to leave. They’re very, very to themselves. I didn’t know anything would ever happen to be honest,” said Marlana Glassman, who lives in the duplex next door to where Hankins is accused of holding deputies at bay and forcing neighbors to run from his bullets.
“It’s crazy man … I can’t believe somebody’s who really quiet and stays to himself and all of a sudden just freaks out and does what he does. It’s nuts to me,” she said.
Stunned at what’s happened, Glassman says the standoff has made her feel differently about her neighborhood.
“A little bit. It’s kind of scary to know what happens in people’s heads,” she said. “I think I’m going to be a little more aware of people around me.”
