Police in Northern California have arrested a man suspected of conducting a drive-by shooting that damaged a local television station in Sacramento.
Early Saturday morning, the Sacramento Police Department said it took Anibal Hernandez-Santana, 64, into custody after “prompt and diligent work of our responding officers and investigators.” Santana is a resident of the city.
The arrest follow an intense manhunt for the shooter, who drove up to the building that houses KXTV (Channel 10, ABC) and fired three shots through the window of the station’s lobby.
Police offered few details during a press conference on Friday, but warned that the shooter would be found and apprehended.
A law enforcement source who spoke with The Desk on background said police were concentrating their efforts in a neighborhood where the shooting suspect’s car, a white Nissan, was registered. The address ultimately returned to a location associated with Hernandez-Santana’s former job, the source said.
Police are still attempting to determine a motive for the shooting.
KXTV serves as the ABC affiliate for the Sacramento region. Its signal covers a wide portion of Northern California, including parts of the Central Valley, the northern San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe.
Protesters have assembled outside the station over the past two days following ABC’s decision to place late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on indefinite hiatus. The decision came after Federal Communications Chairman Brendan Carr criticized the network for allowing Kimmel to perform a monologue on Monday, during which he wrongly implied that a man suspected of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk was aligned with supporters of President Donald Trump.
While KXTV carries ABC programming and uses the network in its branding “ABC10,” the station is not operated by ABC or the Walt Disney Company. TEGNA, the owner of KXTV, is in the process of being acquired by Nexstar Media Group, one of two broadcasters that criticized Kimmel’s monologue on Wednesday.
“We can confirm that shots were fired into our station at KXTV earlier today,” Molly McMahon, a spokesperson for TEGNA, said in an email to The Desk. “While details are still limited, importantly, all of our employees are safe and unharmed. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and have taken additional measures to ensure the continued safety of our employees.”
In a statement late Friday evening, the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the shooting at KXTV.
“The Governor has been briefed on reports of a shooting at a local ABC affiliate in Sacramento,” a statement from Newsom’s press office said. “While no injuries have been reported, any act of violence toward journalists is an attack on our democracy itself and must be condemned in the strongest terms. We stand with reporters and staff who work every day to keep communities informed and safe.”
