SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for a drive-by shooting in 2022 that resulted in the death of a Sacramento resident. Devonte Lee White was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of 30-year-old Matthew Salas-Keen, along with a conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm and an enhancement to the murder charge for firing a gun from a vehicle and causing death.
The deadly shooting stemmed from a confrontation two weeks before the homicide when White got into an argument with a group of people the victim was with at the time, according to information released by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. The confrontation occurred at a market near Salas-Keen’s home, and prosecutors stated that White left the market and returned with a gun that he brandished while confronting Salas-Keen. The fatal shooting occurred two weeks later on January 25, 2022, in the 3700 block of Dayton Street, just south of Grand Avenue.
Security camera footage from the night of the shooting showed a vehicle passing Salas-Keen, who was on his front porch. The vehicle made a U-turn and passed Salas-Keen’s home a second time before backing up. Prosecutors said the vehicle’s driver then shot Salas-Keen at point-blank range and that the victim was shot at eight times, three of the bullets striking him.
Sacramento police officers were called to Dayton Street about 2:15 a.m. for the reported shooting and found Salas-Keen wounded by gunfire. He was taken to a hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. Investigators found a stolen handgun at White’s apartment, and the District Attorney’s Crime Lab matched the firearm to expended shell casings found at the scene and in the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting.
White was arrested on February 24, 2022, on suspicion of homicide in Salas-Keen’s death, and he had already been in custody since February 2, 2022, on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon.
In light of these events, Sacramento Superior Court Judge James McFetridge gave White the maximum prison sentence for the charges, and White remained in custody at the Sacramento County Mail Jail awaiting transfer to prison.