Above: Michael Xavier Bell | Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office has announced the arrest of a primary suspect in the recent homicide on Whitecliff Way.
36-year-old Michael Xavier Bell, of Los Angeles County, was reportedly arrested on Sunday, October 9, in connection to the fatal shooting of 60-year-old Antonio Manning on the 6300 block of Whitecliff Way in Sacramento.
The night before, on October 8, police had responded to the area for a welfare check after receiving reports of a possible gunshot near a residence. Responding officers found Manning during a protective sweep of the residence in question and discovered that he’d sustained at least one gunshot wound. Manning was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.
Within hours, Bell was identified as the primary suspect. Authorities say Bell was known to them previously due to a lengthy criminal history, including robbery, battery by a prisoner, and sex crimes.
Regarding the latter, specifically, Bell had been sentenced to 53-years-to-life in prison after he and an accomplice robbed and brutally raped a woman at gunpoint in front of her 8-year-old son. Bell was only about a week shy of 15 years old at the time, and had been tried as an adult due to the severity of the crime. He was eventually released from prison early under California law SB 1391 passed in late 2018.
Following his arrest in connection to the fatal shooting of Manning, Bell remains in custody on $1 million bail.
