Authorities said the man fired a round during a Citrus Heights carjacking, led deputies on a chase across Sacramento County and was shot after stopping on the freeway near Arena Boulevard.
SACRAMENTO, CA — Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a man early Tuesday on Interstate 5 after authorities said he carried out an armed carjacking in Citrus Heights, fired during the crime and then led officers on a high-speed chase that stretched across much of the county.
The shooting closed southbound I-5 near Arena Boulevard for hours and drew a wide investigation on one of the region’s main commuter routes. Sheriff’s officials said the man repeatedly pointed a gun at deputies during the pursuit and again after he got out of the stolen vehicle on the freeway. Four deputies opened fire, according to the sheriff’s office. No deputies were injured, and the man’s identity had not been released by Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities said the chain of events began about 2:30 a.m., when Citrus Heights police alerted the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office to a reported carjacking in the city. Sgt. Edward Igoe, a sheriff’s spokesperson, said the suspect pointed a gun at another person, demanded the victim’s vehicle and threatened to kill the victim and any officers who responded. At some point during the confrontation, Igoe said, the suspect fired one round before driving away in the stolen vehicle. About 30 minutes later, deputies spotted the vehicle near Marconi and Eastern avenues in the Arden-Arcade area and tried to stop it. Instead, the driver kept going, and the attempted stop quickly turned into a chase that moved across Sacramento County in the dark before dawn.
Igoe said the pursuit ran through several parts of the county and at one point extended as far as the area near Sacramento International Airport before turning onto I-5 at Arena Boulevard in Natomas. During the chase, he said, the driver repeatedly pointed a gun out of the window toward deputies. Officers used a tire deflation device, but the vehicle continued moving. The pursuit ended only after the suspect stopped on the freeway, got out and again pointed the gun at deputies, Igoe said. Four deputies then shot him. Sheriff’s officials have not said how many rounds were fired or how many of the four deputies discharged their weapons. Deputies gave the man medical aid after the gunfire, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
By sunrise, the shooting scene had turned part of the freeway into a large evidence area. Southbound lanes on I-5 near Arena Boulevard were shut down for much of the morning while investigators worked on the roadway. Television crews at the scene reported a privacy partition had been set up around the body. Traffic backed up in the area, and northbound drivers also saw slowdowns as people approached the scene. By late morning, one southbound lane had reopened, but the freeway remained partially blocked into midday. The closure added another layer of disruption to a case that began as a local street crime in Citrus Heights and ended miles away on a major interstate through Sacramento.
The known route also shows how far the pursuit stretched. The reported carjacking began near Sunrise Boulevard and Madison Avenue in Citrus Heights, according to local reporting based on law enforcement briefings. Deputies later located the stolen vehicle near Marconi and Eastern, then chased it through the county, including toward the airport area, before it ended in Natomas at Arena Boulevard on I-5. Officials have not publicly described the suspect’s speed, whether other vehicles were struck, or whether anyone else was placed in immediate danger during the chase beyond the threats and gun displays described by the sheriff’s office. They also had not said Tuesday whether the gun recovered at the scene had been fired again after the original carjacking.
Much of the case now turns on evidence that investigators typically gather after a deputy-involved shooting: body-worn camera video, in-car video, radio traffic, dispatch records, freeway surveillance footage, physical evidence from the roadway and interviews with the deputies involved and any civilian witnesses. Authorities had not released video by Tuesday afternoon. The sheriff’s office also had not released the suspect’s name, age or hometown, and officials had not identified the carjacking victim. Those unanswered questions matter because they will shape the next public account of what happened during the pursuit, how the final confrontation unfolded and whether prosecutors or outside reviewers decide that any criminal charges, policy findings or further public disclosures are warranted.
The deputies involved were placed on paid administrative leave, according to local reporting on department policy, a routine step after many law enforcement shootings. Sheriff’s officials said only that four deputies fired. The office did not immediately release their names Tuesday, nor did it say when more information would be provided. Investigators also had not announced when any preliminary incident summary, video release timeline or autopsy findings might become public. In cases like this, several tracks usually move at once: detectives reconstruct the pursuit, homicide investigators review the death, supervisors examine use-of-force decisions and the coroner works to confirm the dead man’s identity and notify relatives. Until those steps are complete, many of the most important details are likely to remain provisional.
The public account on Tuesday remained centered on the sheriff’s version of the final moments. Igoe said the suspect “would repeatedly point his gun at deputies from outside the window” during the chase, then pointed it again after getting out on the freeway. That claim is likely to be a key part of the official justification for the shooting. At the same time, several details that often become central in later reviews were still unresolved in public: the distance between the man and the deputies when the shots were fired, whether commands were given before the gunfire, whether the suspect was moving or standing still, and how the deputies were positioned on the freeway shoulder and lanes. Those are the kinds of facts that often determine how clearly the public can understand a fast-moving use-of-force case.
By Tuesday afternoon, the clearest outline was this: a reported armed carjacking in Citrus Heights at about 2:30 a.m., a sighting of the stolen vehicle near Marconi and Eastern around 3 a.m., a countywide chase, a confrontation on I-5 near Arena Boulevard and a fatal shooting by four deputies. Authorities said no deputy was wounded and no other injuries had been reported. The next milestones are likely to be the release of the dead man’s identity and a fuller investigative update from the sheriff’s office.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.