Sacramento Shooting Leaves 6 Dead, 10 Wounded in California

Six people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting in downtown Sacramento early on Sunday, the police said.

The shooting happened at about 2 a.m. near the city’s Capitol Park, where restaurants and bars pack the downtown. The circumstances leading up to the shooting were not immediately clear.

Kathy Lester, who was sworn in on March 17 as the new chief of the Sacramento Police Department, said at a news conference on Sunday morning that when officers responded to the scene, they found a large crowd and multiple people who had been shot “in a really tragic situation.”

The authorities were still searching for the gunman, though it was not clear how many people might have opened fire, Chief Lester said.

Officials did not release further details about the victims or their conditions. The authorities maintained a large police presence on Sunday in the area where the shooting occurred.

Darrell Steinberg, the mayor of Sacramento, said on Twitter that “words can’t express my shock and sadness this morning,” adding that “rising gun violence is the scourge of our city, state and nation.”

“The numbers of dead and wounded are difficult to comprehend,” Mr. Steinberg said. “We await more information about exactly what transpired in this tragic incident.”