2 women killed at apartment complex; suspect dies after he shoots himself near Arden Fair mall

Two women were killed Wednesday in a shooting at an Arden Arcade apartment complex, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and a suspect in the double homicide was died Thursday hours after shooting himself in a parking lot near Arden Fair mall.

Deputies were called to the Eleven Hundred apartments, on the 1100 block of Howe Avenue near Northrop Avenue, after a ShotSpotter activation and a 911 call. Gunfire had broken out in the parking lot, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

When they arrived at 10:40 p.m., deputies found two women suffering from gunshot wounds; both were pronounced dead at the scene by fire personnel and haven’t been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.

Witnesses who lived in the complex told deputies they had heard multiple gunshots, but no other information was available from homicide detectives who took over the investigation.

Homicide detectives on Thursday identified 32-year-old Ricky Hunter as the suspect in the shooting, Gandhi said, and tracked him to the Arden Fair mall.

Sgt. Marcus Basquez, a spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department, said officers were called just after noon to the 1400 block of Exposition Boulevard for reports of a possibly armed suicidal subject.

Police officers were told by sheriff’s deputies they were also looking for the same person, Basquez said.

Deputies spotted Hunter inside an AT&T store near the mall and waited for him to leave before initiating an arrest. Deputies tried to arrest the 32-year-old inside his car, but he shot himself with a shotgun, Gandhi said.

Sheriff’s deputies, who were working with Sacramento police officers, rendered medical aid and took him to a hospital, Gandhi said. Hunter was later pronounced dead, he said.

No deputies or detectives at the scene fired any gunshots, Gandhi said.

It’s unknown why the man was at the store, said Gandhi, who noted the investigation was in its early stages.

“Only he really knows what led up to this,” Gandhi said of the suspect.

Gandhi said investigators are still trying to determine the motive behind Wednesday’s fatal shooting and what relationship if any did the suspect have with the women who were killed.

Last year, a murder-suicide rocked the Eleven Hundred apartments in which a man shot two women before killing himself.

The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada contributed to this story.