A jury has found a man guilty of first-degree murder and assault with a semi-automatic firearm for a fatal shooting at a South Natomas sports bar in 2022.
Toese Asiata, 34 at the time of the shooting, was convicted this week of murder and assault in the death of Nicholas Snead, 38, at Cheers Bar and Grill in South Natomas on Sept. 13, 2022, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. in a news release Wednesday.
The trial began May 29 and the jury began deliberating Monday, according to Sacramento Superior Court records. The prosecutor’s office said the jury found “true allegations that Asiata personally discharged a firearm, causing death and great bodily harm.”
Asiata’s sentencing is scheduled for July 12 and he faces a maximum sentence of 72 years to life in prison.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Snead allegedly encountered Asiata while dancing to music at the bar. Asiata then pulled a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun from his backpack and shot Snead, striking him five times and killing him, prosecutors said. Another victim was also struck by gunfire and required “long stays in hospitals and nursing homes, multiple surgeries and physical therapy,” the prosecutor’s office said. Asiata then fled the bar and went to Hawaii to avoid capture, prosecutors said.
Officers with the Sacramento Police Department responded around 12:40 the night of the shooting to reports of a shooting at the bar, located on the corner of West El Camino and Truxel Road, according to previous Bee reporting. Snead was pronounced dead at the scene. The bar, which was located in the Park Plaza shopping center, has now closed.
Asiata was arrested the following month in Honolulu and later extradited to California to stand trial for the murder, after police used witness interviews and surveillance footage of the incident to identify Asiata as the shooter.
In October 2022, police responded to reports of gunfire during a vigil held for Snead just three weeks after the fatal shooting. Officers found indications that there had been a shooting, but there were no injuries or damage.
