SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A 31-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for a 2022 drive-by shooting 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, and was also convicted of 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 Salas-Keen was with at the time, according to a news release from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. The confrontation occurred at a market near Salas-Keen’s home, where White brandished a gun while confronting Salas-Keen. The fatal shooting occurred two weeks later, on Jan. 25, 2022, in the 3700 block of Dayton Street, just south of Grand Avenue.
That night, security camera video 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 and the vehicle’s driver then shot Salas-Keen at point-blank range.
About 2:15 a.m., Sacramento police officers were called to Dayton Street for the reported shooting. Investigators found a stolen handgun at White’s apartment, and traces of White’s DNA were found on the gun used to kill Salas-Keen, according to the District Attorney’s Office. White was arrested on February 24, 2022, on suspicion of homicide in Salas-Keen’s death.
During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence that conclusively linked White to the crime, including matching the firearm to expended shell casings found at the scene and in the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting. As a result, Sacramento Superior Court Judge James McFetridge gave White the maximum prison sentence for the charges, with White remaining in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail awaiting transfer to prison.