Gunfire strikes ABC10 building amid outrage over 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' suspension

Sacramento police confirmed three gunshots were fired at a local ABC station Friday, Sept. 19 amid nationwide outrage at the network's decision to suspend "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

At least three bullets struck the ABC10 television station with one hitting the lobby window shortly around 1:30 p.m. local time, Sacramento Police Department Public Information Officer Anthony Gamble confirmed at a news conference.

There were no injuries despite the building being occupied at the time, according to Gamble.

A 64-year-old Sacramento man, Anibal Hernandez Santana, was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building and negligent discharge of a firearm, SPD confirmed on X early Saturday, Sept 20. He has been booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail.

USA TODAY was working to determine if Hernandez Santana has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.

The motive in the shooting remains unclear, Gamble said.

"I don't know if this was targeted or if this was a random act," Gamble told reporters Friday afternoon. "But what I could tell you is our detectives are on the scene and they're going to be conducting follow up while we're going to try to figure who is responsible for this."

A day earlier on Thursday, Sept 18, demonstrators protested outside the TV station to condemn ABC's announcement that Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show would be "pre-empted indefinitely." The suspension followed outrage over comments the Emmy-winning comedian made about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a Monday, Sept. 15, episode.

On Sept. 17, Nexstar Media announced it would not air episodes of Kimmel's show across its ABC affiliate stations and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr seemingly threatened the network, Disney and Kimmel during commentator Benny Johnson's YouTube show saying, "we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

The ABC10 studio is home to local station KXTV, Channel 10, which is not owned by Disney despite the entertainment giant owning ABC.

Gamble confirmed that there were no protests outside the ABC10 building at the time of the shooting.

Around 15 people demonstrators participated in the Thursday protest for about an hour, the Sacramento Bee reported.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)