Sacramento Police Investigate Strange Explosions Around City

As the Globe has reported, for well over one year now, someone or some persons have been setting off what sounds and feels like bombs – a very loud explosion in the middle of the night. The response from the City’s elected officials: Silence. Crickets. The Mayor and most council members appear more interested in composting and the recent purchase of 102 acres of vacant land in south Sacramento to build affordable housing, and be used as a safe parking site for homeless.

Local residents and neighbors have noted these explosions on local social media including Nextdoor and Facebook for the past year, and have asked the Mayor’s office and council members what is going on, but no acknowledgment or response has been provided.

Saturday, Sacramento Police Department released a statement and posted on social media about a “Suspicious Explosions Investigation.”

On Sunday, January 23, 2022 at approximately 9:46 p.m., Sacramento Police Department patrol officers responded to the 4000 Block of 34th Street regarding a possible explosion. Responding officers located an unoccupied vehicle with significant damage consistent with an explosion occurring inside the vehicle.  Sacramento Police Department Explosive Ordnance Detail (EOD) Officers and the Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) Unit responded to document and process the scene.  Officers conducted an extensive investigation and were able to determine that no injuries occurred.  Based on evidence located during the investigation, officers believe a homemade explosive device was detonated inside the vehicle.

On Friday, January 28, 2022 at approximately 6:03 p.m., Sacramento Police Department patrol officers responded to the area of 20th Avenue / 32nd Street regarding a possible explosion. Responding officers located an unoccupied vehicle with significant damage consistent with an explosion occurring inside the vehicle.  Sacramento Police Department Explosive Ordnance Detail (EOD) Officers and the Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) Unit responded to document and process the scene.  Officers conducted an extensive investigation and were able to determine that no injuries occurred.  Based on evidence located during the investigation, officers believe a homemade explosive device was detonated inside the vehicle. The circumstances of both incidents are similar.

The responses on SacPD’s Nextdoor page were stunning:

• “What about the two major explosions heard in Tahoe Park this past week? They were not the typical M80’s we hear.”
• “Waiting for an update about the explosion around 3 or 4 am this morning.”
• “A car behind the Dollar Store blew up too, I wonder if this was related. I also wonder whoever’s been blowing things up (like those orange barriers in land park) has graduated to cars…”
• “A lot of those explosions are going off over here and garden land enough to rattle the windows of your house for surely not your M 80s.”
• “Exactly, they are much more powerful. Had one go off in our neighborhood shook our house violently, I even picked up the flash of light on our surveillance.”
• “If the car that blew up behind the dollar tree, the car that blew up being towed, and the car that Christopher is mentioning are related there seems to be 5 cars that have been blown up possibly by the same culprit.”
• “And why isn’t there mention of whos cars were blown up? Any of them?!? What kind of truck was pulling the one that exploded? So many questions. What about the car on forest hill with the deadly chemicals , a dead person, and a note about what they were looking at. Ammonium chloride ? Does not just happen, there’s two chemicals or ingredients containing them(fertilizer).”
• “Did anyone just hear that big explosion just now by Burnett & 18th? Reply: Yes. Someone saw a flash in the sky. Shook our house. I’m near Tower Cafe.”

Many more comments were left acknowledging the explosion and flash Saturday, as well as frustration that Sacramento residents are in the dark about what these are. “It’s sad it’s gotten to the point where citizens have to band together to try and stop this madness,” one Sacramento man wrote.

The Globe has been reporting on the crime wave across California which has come to the front doors of millions of residents in once-safe cities. As the Globe reported in October, in the once sleepy cow town of Sacramento, California, there are now regular (daily) shootings, stabbings, even machete attacks, bank robberies, assaults and homicides.

We’ve been compiling long lists of violent crimes, courtesy of the daily and weekly SacPD crime logs. These violent crimes happen in Sacramento residential neighborhoods without acknowledgment of the seriousness or impact on the quality of life by Sacramento’s Mayor Darrell Steinberg, most members of the City Council. There appears to be an impenetrable wall and disconnect between the police department and City Hall.

As for the explosions, we reported on more before Christmas – day and night – in Sacramento’s William Land Park, a large regional park in the City of Sacramento, surrounded by residential housing and local businesses, and is home to the Sacramento Zoo, Land Park Golf Course, Fairytale Town, Funderland Amusement Park and a corral for pony rides.

One home’s Ring camera caught this video of a car going the wrong way down a downtown alley in the middle of the night, dropping something, which eventually explodes sounding just like all of the other explosions. While we are not Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians, these aren’t bottle rockets, but certainly appear to be homemade explosives. There are other home cameras which have caught the explosions.

Recently I also reported being awakened at 2:25am by gunshots and then a short burst of automatic gunfire somewhere nearby in my neighborhood.

So what is Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg focused on? His Facebook page has this gem posted: “Tonight we took an important vote by unanimously enacting a modest increase in solid waste fees to begin composting food waste-a key step in meeting the climate change goals of the state and the City of Sacramento.”

Composting for climate change. Bread and circuses.