Robert McCormack booking photo
SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento man was arrested early Friday, July 1, on suspicion of murder after another man was found fatally shot at a residence in the Foothill Farms area of the city.
Sacramento County Sheriff Tony Turnbull said a call was received before 9:00 pm on Thursday, June 30, about shots heard at a home on the 5500 block of Monteagle Court off of Hillside Boulevard. What was supposed to be a fun evening with friends and a home-cooked meal in a new house, turned into the city’s 21st homicide.
Robert Gene McCormack, 43, was taken into custody after detectives found the victim, also 43, (whose name is being withheld pending notification of his family) shot multiple times and laying by the front door of the residence. He was pronounced dead following failed life-saving measures by deputies.
A female resident, who was McCormack’s girlfriend of three years, told authorities that she and the victim had been arguing when McCormack intervened using physical force. He then went to his bedroom and returned with a 9 mm pistol and shot the victim, whom was a childhood friend.
McCormack recalls that he had been in his bathroom and heard hollering and screaming.
“I opened the door. He had my girlfriend pinned up against the truck.”
He also recalls picking up a baseball bat and hitting the victim hard in the ribs. When that didn’t slow the confrontation down, McCormack locked his screen door, but “he was trying to kick it in and punch it in. I remember opening the door and me pointing the gun at him and him charging me. So in about eight feet, I discharged all of my rounds and he fell right in front of me.”
McCormack was booked into Sacramento County Main Jail on a charge of murder. He is not eligible for parole and will appear in Sacramento Superior Court on Wednesday, July 7.
He received his first strike under California’s three-strike system for assault with a deadly weapon on a man who was flirting with an old girlfriend back in 1998.
