Lawyer for suspect charged in ABC10 shooting slams federal charges
Anibal Hernandez-Santana, 64, a California lawyer and retired lobbyist, was arrested by the FBI on Saturday on federal charges after first being accused of shooting at a Sacramento TV station.Mark Reichel, Hernandez-Santana's lawyer, said his client should not be held in Sacramento County Jail on federal charges, which he described as minor and a tactic by the Department of Justice to hold Hernandez-Santana while investigating. "He is squarely the type of person that the Trump administration would like to hold up and used as exhibit in their argument that there's a radical left," Reichel said.Sacramento police arrested Hernandez-Santana on Friday evening, accusing him of firing three bullets into the lobby of ABC10 earlier that day. After posting bail on state charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building, and negligent discharge of a firearm, the FBI arrested him on Saturday. "After he and I were working on his case, he took a break and went outside of his apartment," Reichel said. "He got arrested by the FBI on new charges."Police have not disclosed the motive behind the shooting, but Reichel believes Hernandez-Santana's social media posts critical of the Trump administration might be influencing the Department of Justice's pursuit of additional charges. "Oh, absolutely, they're looking to see if this is political violence. I can guarantee you that, there's just no dispute," Reichel said. "If you look at his social media, they're going to say, 'Boy, it sure shows that he's liberal and left wing.' So you think they're going to overlook something like that? I don't think so."Reichel emphasized that he does not know if Hernandez-Santana is the shooter and said he hasn't seen any evidence linking his client to the crime, but he believes investigators are scrutinizing his client's social media activity. "It's undisputed. They're going to look at his social media and say, 'Look, he was very critical of the administration, very critical of Trump.' And then this happens," Reichel said. Hernandez-Santana is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate tomorrow, where the judge will decide on bail. He will then face a county judge on Tuesday for the state charges. The federal charge carries a potential penalty of one year in prison and a $10,000 fine.
