The event that Davis is most famous for took yet another turn into infamy Saturday afternoon, this time seeing a barrage of near-deadly gunfire breakout as several victims fell to the ground. The terrifying moment at UC Davis Picnic Day dwarfed a chaotic 2017 brawl that first raised eyebrows about the gathering.

This latest incident happened in Community Park around 2:58 p.m.

According to police, a large crowd was gathered on a law surrounding the children’s playground for a permitted event. Davis officials estimate that roughly 73,000 people attend UC Davis Picnic Day each year, with outdoor parties happening in all different quarters of the city. A handful of food trucks were serving the crowd at Community Park, one of whom’s cook told SN&R that the get-together was amounting to “a very successful day” until they suddenly saw people frantically running.

Seconds before, Davis police officers patrolling the area heard the distinct sound of gunfire. They rushed towards the commotion and found three people suffering from bullet wounds. Two were teenagers, one from Davis and the other from Sacramento. There was also a 24-year-old who’d been hit.

Emergency responders began working on the victims before spiriting them away to a nearby hospital. Two hours later, Davis Police Lieutenant Dan Beckwith told reporters he didn’t think any of those who were hit had life-threatening injuries.

Whoever fired the gun, or guns, is still at large.

“This is very preliminary investigation, so details are going to change as we discover new things” Beckwith said. “First and foremost, we have to really get with our victims and our detectives to get their statements, and they’re working on that right now … We’ll be requesting assistance from the public, people who may have been video-taping, or taking pictures, or may have saw something.”

When pressed on if there was any releasable information about the suspect or suspects, Beckwith answered, “At this point, no. It’s what we would call a fire hose of information. There were a whole lot of people out there, who were scared and calling the police, and we’re getting a lot of conflicting information.”

One piece of conflicting information involves early reports that someone was badly trampled by a stampede of people running for their lives. As of this evening, Davis police hadn’t been notified by any hospital personnel in the region that such a victim exists.  

Beckwith was also asked if the shooting was directly linked to Picnic Day.

“It’s assumed,” he replied. “There are large gatherings all over the city – that’s very common for today.”

The initial crime scene that officers taped-off in the park encompassed a section of grass about 75 away from Covell Boulevard.

At 5:50 p.m., officers and evidence techs were still searching the grass with metal detectors.

At 6 p.m., police expanded their potential crime scene to include parts of the law that were 34 feet away from F Street. At that point, some officers reported finding a bloody cigarette and bloody napkin in the grass.

Beckwith implied officers may be processing the scene for hours into the night.

“It’s a large area,” he pointed out. “They’ve got a lot of work ahead of them … While we don’t have suspect in custody, it’s likely they’re no longer there. So, at this point, this is where we try to slow down. When you hurry, you miss things.”