Sacramento ABC10 shooting suspect indicted by federal grand jury
The suspect accused of firing gunshots at the ABC10 building in Sacramento has been indicted by a federal grand jury, documents obtained by CBS Sacramento show.
Anibal Hernandez Santana is facing federal charges that include interfering with a radio communication station and possession and discharge of a firearm within a school zone. The three-page, four-count indictment was sent to CBS Sacramento by Hernandez Santana's attorney, Mark Reichel.
Hernandez Santana is accused of firing three shots into the ABC10 building on September 19. No one was injured. The news building sits within 1,000 feet of both a high school and an elementary school.
Hernanez Santana not only had this gun the day of the shooting at ABC10 but also fired it the day before, within the same school zone, according to the indictment.
Legal analyst Allen Sawyer said the new date presented in the indictment is not clear.
"There's some separate evidence that came before the government's attention where they believe that he was in possession of a gun on a different day than the shooting, in a school zone," Sawyer said. "We know that ABC10 was in a school zone. We don't know for sure that this was the same location."
The shooting happened one day after a protest at the ABC10 building in response to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension over comments the late-night talk show host made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Investigators have not publicly identified a motive.
Hernandez Santana was arrested by Sacramento police later that night and posted bail the next day before being taken into federal custody. He has remained in custody since, after a judge sided with prosecutors who argued he posed a danger to the community and should not be released on bail.
The indictment comes a week after prosecutors revealed new details about Hernandez Santana's behavior before the shooting. According to a criminal complaint, he appeared "weird" and "anxious" during a visit to nearby Sutterville Elementary School earlier in the week, where he asked to read to children and expressed his interest in volunteering. Staff described the visit as "unusual and concerning," and prosecutors later suggested it was consistent with "pre-attack site surveillance."
Prosecutors also pointed to a note on a weekly planner found in his home that read, "Do the Next Scary Thing," which they said suggested the ABC10 shooting may have been part of a broader plan.
Sacramento City Unified School District officials confirmed the incident at Sutterville but emphasized there was never a direct threat to the school or students at the time.
In a jailhouse interview with CBS Sacramento, Hernandez Santana denied being violent, saying, "I'm not a violent man." Reichel has stressed that Hernandez Santana is entitled to due process and remains innocent unless proven guilty.
Hernandez Santana faces up to 16 years in federal prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines if convicted of all charges, according to the indictment.
He will be due in court on Monday, where this indictment will be presented to the court for the first time. Reichel said his client plans to plead not guilty to all charges.
"We are reviewing the allegations in the grand jury indictment and still waiting for the delivery of evidence," Reichel said in a statement. "Mr. Hernandez Santana is innocent unless and until he is found guilty at trial."