Rodney Lavon Collins, a 21-year-old male from Sacramento, was shot and killed on the evening of May 9, 2016, at the intersection of 53rd Street and Young Street in Sacramento. At approximately 7:34 p.m., Sacramento Police Department officers were dispatched to the area following a report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they discovered Collins lying in the street with a fatal gunshot injury.
Sacramento Fire Department personnel also responded, but Collins could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office publicly identified him the following day.
The intersection quickly became the focus of a homicide investigation. Detectives and crime-scene investigators examined the area, collected evidence and canvassed the surrounding neighborhood in an effort to locate witnesses and determine what had led to the gunfire. Police did not publicly describe the events immediately preceding the shooting or disclose whether Collins had been involved in any confrontation before he was killed. Investigators also said that a motive had not been established during the initial stages of the investigation.
No arrest had been made when police announced the homicide investigation, and authorities did not publicly identify a suspect or release a description of anyone believed responsible. Detectives appealed to members of the community for information, asking anyone who witnessed the shooting or knew something about the circumstances surrounding Collins's death to contact investigators. Police also accepted anonymous information through Crime Alert and other tip services, with a reward of up to $1,000 potentially available for information helpful to the investigation.
Publicly available reporting and the Sacramento Police Department's archived information about the case do not identify a later suspect or document an arrest, criminal charge, trial or conviction connected to Collins's killing. The archived police release concerning the May 9 homicide does not contain a subsequent arrest update. Based on the publicly available online record, Collins's death remained without a publicly announced resolution, leaving unanswered who shot him and what prompted the deadly encounter.
