Church shooter was arrested in Merced County, 5 days before killing daughters in Sacramento

The 39-year-old man who shot his three daughters to death and killed a man inside a Sacramento church before killing himself was armed with an AR-15-style rifle, had been ordered by a judge to attend anger management courses and was accused of “mental instability” by his estranged girlfriend, according to court documents and a law enforcement source.

David Mora, who is also identified in documents as David Fidel Mora-Rojas, was arrested last week in Merced County on charges of resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and driving under the influence after he assaulted a Los Banos California Highway Patrol officer, authorities said.

“He was drunk and while they were arresting him or trying to he decided he wanted to fight and ended up with felony charges because he assaulted a CHP officer, causing injuries,” said Deputy Daryl Allen, a spokesman for the Merced County Sheriff’s Office.

Allen said Mora was arrested Feb. 23, posted bail and was released after spending one night in jail.

Sacramento County officials still had not officially released the identities Tuesday afternoon of those killed in Monday’s rampage inside The Church in Sacramento on Wyda Way, but two sources confirmed Mora’s identity and court records of the Mora family children match the ages and schools attributed to the three girls.

The girls — identified in court papers as Samia, 13; Samantha, whose 11th birthday would have been Wednesday; and Samarah, 9 — were students in the Natomas Unified School District.

Mora was at the church for a supervised family visit with the girls and was the subject of a temporary restraining order issued in April 2021 that prohibited him from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

Law enforcement sources said Tuesday they still had not determined when and how Mora obtained the assault weapon used in the shooting.

Mora’s girlfriend sought a temporary restraining order against Mora last year, visiting the Sacramento Regional Family Justice Center on April 26 for help, according to Faith Whitmore, the center’s chief executive officer.

Court documents show that a five-year domestic violence restraining order against Mora was issued May 19. It ordered him to stay at least 100 yards away from her and their daughters except for supervised visits of up to four hours that were to be overseen by family friend, Nathaniel Alcon.

“Due to respondent’s mental instability, I am asking that visitation with the children be supervised by my friend,” the girlfriend, who is not being named because she is a victim of domestic violence, wrote in court documents. “Four hours on the weekend.”

In a subsequent court hearing on June 30, the court ordered Mora to complete at least 16 sessions of anger management classes if he wanted to apply for the possibility of unsupervised visits. The court granted four hours of visitation on Saturdays or Sundays as long as they were supervised by “a mutually agreed upon person from the parents’ church.”

Samia attended Leroy Greene Academy charter school, and the younger girls went to Bannon Creek School.

The Natomas Unified district issued a statement Tuesday confirming they were students there and offering grief counseling.

“It is with deep sadness that we share with you news of the tragic deaths,” the district said in a message to parents. “There are very few words that can give comfort right now for this unspeakable tragedy. ... We will have our Social-Emotional Support Team and Chaplains from the Sacramento Police Department available at those two schools this morning to provide grief counseling and support. This support extends to anyone in the district who may need it.”

The shooting took place inside the Arden Arcade area church about 5 p.m. Monday. Within hours, the neighborhood was swarmed by law enforcement vehicles, media and curious onlookers.

Yadira Ortega, who has lived across the street from the Church for more than 10 years, said the parking lot is usually packed with vehicles of congregation members on Sundays.

Ortega, who is not a member of the church, said she had just arrived home about 5 p.m. Monday and parked her car near the church parking lot entrance.

She and her two children grabbed their dinner takeout from Panda Express, walked across the street and were at her home’s front gate when she heard several gunshots from the direction of the church. The gunfire sounded sporadic, she said, a few gunshots followed by a few more. She put her kids in the house, and waited outside to see if she saw a car leaving.

“Or somebody running, or any type of scream, yell, anything,” Ortega said. “I didn’t hear anything.”

She then went into her home for several minutes, she returned outside to find a large number of law enforcement vehicles arriving on Wyda Way.

There was a sheriff’s helicopter circling above with someone onboard speaking through loudspeaker, telling residents to go inside and lock their doors. Ortega said she remained outside and could see law enforcement officials searching the entire church property.

About five minutes later, she said she spotted about six or seven officers carrying one of the victims through the church parking lot to just outside the front gate, which on Tuesday became a home for well-wishers to drop off teddy bears and flowers.

“I saw them carry one of the little girls out,” Ortega said. “They did CPR, I can’t say how long, but once I knew it wasn’t successful they covered her right away.”

Law enforcement vehicles were parked on the street to block the neighbors’ view of the little girl on the ground, she said.

“It’s really hard. I have a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old. They heard the gunshots, because I was walking in with them into the house, but I never told them, ‘Yeah, those were gunshots.’”

She didn’t want to frighten her children. The school principal emailed her this morning, advising her to stay home today and recuperate.

“It’s just sad,” Ortega said. “How can a dad just take three innocent lives just like that? They couldn’t even protect themselves. Who would’ve known that was their last visit or their last day here.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Church shooter was arrested in Merced County, 5 days before killing daughters in Sacramento."