Police Chief: Teen in Spirit Halloween Shooting Did Time for Prior One

A 17-year-old is in custody in last Friday’s shooting inside a Spirit Halloween store in Fairfield, California, and the city’s police chief says the teen had already served time for an earlier shooting, according to Fairfield police and multiple Northern California news outlets.

Fairfield police arrested the teen Monday at a home in the 800 block of Harrier Drive in nearby Suisun City, CBS Sacramento reported. He came out peacefully, Action News Now reported. Police said he faces murder and attempted murder charges, and his name has not been released because he is a juvenile, according to CBS Sacramento.

#BREAKING: Suspect arrested in connection to a mass shooting inside a Spirit Halloween store in Fairfield, police say. The shooting left a woman dead and six others injured. https://t.co/fArvAhvdK2 pic.twitter.com/0IxGJyj8mp

— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) November 2, 2026

What police say happened

The shooting broke out around 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, inside the Spirit Halloween store at Solano Town Center as shoppers picked up last-minute costumes, ABC7 San Francisco reported. Police believe the suspect walked into the store, spotted another person investigators think was the intended target and opened fire, according to CBS Sacramento. KCRA reported that police described the target as someone the suspect had a previous altercation with.

The gunfire struck that person and six others, CBS Sacramento reported. Constance Hages, 31, died at the scene, and her family told investigators she was pregnant, according to CBS Sacramento. The suspect fled before officers arrived, the outlet reported.

KCRA reported that the wounded ranged in age from 16 to 43. A 19-year-old man remained in critical condition, while a 16-year-old boy, a 23-year-old man and a 32-year-old man were stable, according to KCRA. Two other men, ages 19 and 43, were treated and released, the station reported.

School resource officers helped identify the suspect through surveillance footage, and investigators identified him within hours, police said, according to CBS Sacramento. Chief Dan Marshall said police held that information back so they would not tip him off. “We did not want to risk compromising his whereabouts or the arrest of this person,” Marshall said, according to CBS Sacramento. Police said they do not believe there were any additional shooters, CBS Sacramento reported.

Chief blames soft juvenile laws

The chief’s sharpest words were aimed at Sacramento. Marshall said the teen spent a few months in juvenile hall for a 2025 shooting in a local high school parking lot, CBS Sacramento and KCRA reported. Action News Now reported that police said the teen shot into a car after school in that case. Marshall said that because of the earlier shooting, the Spirit Halloween attack never should have happened, according to CBS Sacramento.

“California has gotten extremely soft on accountability with youth,” Marshall said, according to CBS Sacramento. He pointed to a homicide at a Fairfield High School graduation earlier this year and said the pattern shows “a lack of accountability for our youth,” the outlet reported. ABC7 San Francisco reported that Marshall said the teen had been considered rehabilitated before his release.

Marshall called for “conversations about legislative changes,” according to CBS Sacramento, and KCRA reported that he wants lawmakers to hold young offenders more responsible for violent crime.

His comments put a local police chief squarely in the long-running fight over California’s juvenile justice laws, which critics on the right have blamed for letting repeat violent offenders back on the street.

Sources

• CBS Sacramento: Fairfield police arrest suspect in Spirit Halloween mass shooting
• KCRA: 17-year-old arrested in deadly Spirit Halloween shooting
• ABC7 San Francisco: 17-year-old boy arrested in Spirit Halloween store shooting
• Action News Now: Fairfield mall shooting suspect, 17, arrested in Suisun City

Reporting by Daily Beltway.