Targets, From Toddlers To Teens

By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer Paula Anderson lost her 3-year-old daughter Azalya to gun violence in 2018. Russell Stiger II, OBSERVER Paula Anderson was getting her young children ready for bed, looking at pictures with her 3-year-old daughter Azalya in her home near Power Inn Road in 2018 when gunshots rang out. She grabbed her daughter, but as they ducked, a bullet whizzed by Paula and struck Azalya in the back of the head. Azalya was one of 62 victims aged 19 or younger who were killed by gunfire in Sacramento County between 2018 and 2023, according to an OBSERVER analysis of coroner’s office data. Thirty-four of those victims, or 55%, were Black people, who make up about 11% of the county population. “I knew she was shot,” Anderson, 42, tells The OBSERVER. She says shootings are commonplace in her neighborhood: “In South Sac, if you hear gunshots, you better get down. I’ve lived here for a long time and there have been shootings and shootings and shootings. Bullets fly and hit houses.” Knowing it might take too long for police and paramedics to arrive, Anderson carried Azalya to the backseat of her car. Her boyfriend at...