By Rosalio Ahumada
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — A correctional officer shot to death an inmate trying to kill another inmate during a stabbing attack Wednesday at a prison in Sacramento County, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Martin Pacheco suffered a gunshot wound to his back and was pronounced dead about 9:32 a.m. Wednesday at California State Prison, Sacramento, prison officials said in a news release. They said the victim in the reported attack at the prison, Paul Solis, suffered six stab wounds and was taken by ambulance to an outside hospital for a “higher level” of medical treatment.
Shortly before 9 a.m., Pacheco, along with fellow inmates Gustavo Reyes and Angel Torres, were trying to “murder” Solis with makeshift weapons, according to the news release. Prison officials said Pacheco, Reyes and Torres ignored repeated commands from correctional officers to to stop their attack on Solis.
The officers then used chemical agents and fired three rounds from their state-issued Mini-14 rifles to stop the attack. CDCR said only one of the correctional officers shot Pacheco.
Officials said medics at the prison responded immediately and performed life-saving measures on Pacheco and Solis.
Investigators recovered three inmate-manufactured weapons at the scene, CDCR said. No prison staff members were injured. Inmate movement was limited on Facility C, where the attack and the shooting occurred, to allow investigators to work.
The CDCR sent a Deadly Force Investigation Team to investigate the fatal shooting. The team of investigators conduct criminal and administrative investigations into every use of deadly force. Prison officials said a deadly force review board also will conduct a full review.
Officials from the state’s Office of the Inspector General were notified and were at the scene. Reyes and Torres were moved to the Administrative Segregation Unit to be housed there, pending the investigation into Wednesday’s incident.
The facility in Represa, a Folsom neighborhood, is a high-security prison that houses about 2,250 inmates and employs about 1,800 people. The prison houses long-term inmates, inmates requiring specialized mental health programming and inmates with high-risk medical concerns.
Pacheco, 34, was serving a life sentence with the chance of parole for an attempted first-degree murder conviction in Los Angeles County. His sentence included a 25-year enhancement for using a gun and causing great bodily injury.
Solis, 37, is serving a life sentence with the chance of parole. He was convicted in Los Angeles County of the same charge as Pacheco, only his 25-year enhancement also involved using a gun in an inhabited dwelling and using a gun to prevent or dissuade a victim or witness, prison officials said.
In January 2007, Solis was sentenced to serve an additional year and four months for assault by a prisoner with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury, according to the news release. Solis was also sentenced in Kern County in February 2018 to serve an additional eight years in prison for possessing or manufacturing a deadly weapon by a prisoner.
Reyes, 42, is also serving a life sentence with the chance of parole. He was convicted in Los Angeles County of second-degree murder with a 25-year concurrent enhancement for using a gun and causing death and attempted second-degree murder with a 25-year consecutive enhancement for using a gun and causing great bodily injury.
Torres, 23, is serving a life prison sentence with the chance of parole for a first-degree murder conviction in San Bernardino County. Prison officials said Torres was sentenced in February in Solano County to serve an additional three-year prison sentence for possessing or manufacturing a deadly weapon by a prisoner.
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