Sacramento man accused of shooting at ABC10 pleads not guilty to federal charges

Rosalio Ahumada, The Sacramento Bee on Oct 6, 2025

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Anibal “Al” Hernandez Santana pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges related to the shooting last month at ABC10 television studios on Broadway.

Mark Reichel, Hernandez Santana’s attorney, entered the plea on behalf of his client. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sean C. Riordan scheduled Hernandez Santana to return Nov. 17 for a status conference hearing in his federal criminal case.

The federal grand jury indicted Hernandez Santana, 64, of Sacramento on charges of firing a 9mm handgun within a school zone, possessing a firearm within a school zone and willfully or maliciously interfering with or causing interference to any radio communications of any station, according to the indictment filed Thursday in Sacramento federal court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Wong has said in court that Hernandez Santana stood in a nearby school zone and fired a gunshot into the air shortly before driving around the block to fire three gunshots into the lobby of the ABC10 building. The TV station is near Leataata Floyd Elementary School and Health Professions High School.

If convicted of the federal charges, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The Sacramento Police Department initially arrested Hernandez Santana, before he was released from the jail hours later after posting a $200,000 bail bond. The FBI arrested Hernandez Santana later that day after investigators served a search warrant at his home.

Reichel raised concerns at the hearing about why the U.S. Department of Justice decided to prosecute his client after local police had already arrested him in connection with the TV station shooting.

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has charged Hernandez Santana with firing a gun into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm.

His arraignment in Sacramento Superior Court has been postponed twice, since the defendant remains under a federal hold. Court Commissioner Benjamin Cassady told attorneys it will be up to them to do what needs to be done to get Hernandez Santana in court for his arraignment on Oct. 16.

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