Emotions in Sacramento's Land Park neighborhood ran at fever pitch Friday morning after gunfire left a suspected car thief dead and a police dog critically injured.

Eva Pogue, 6, center, is the first released from a lockdown at Crocker-Riverside school. A Sacramento officer returned fire after his police dog was shot Friday morning in Land Park, fatally wounding an auto theft suspect.

Sacramento police SWAT officers walk from the scene of a shooting Friday in the Land Park area where they had been called to secure a suspect who was shot – fatally, it turned out – by an officer after the man turned his gun on a police dog.

Bodie, shown in a Police Department photo, was seriously injured.

Sacramento police K-9 Bodie is still in stable but critical condition after being shot Friday in a confrontation with an auto theft suspect, officials said Saturday.

Bodie in recovery.

Sacramento police K-9 Bodie in recovery.

Temperatures are expected to go from slightly above average this weekend to below average by midweek, the National Weather Service reports.

Zulaikha Zadran runs to get liftoff for her kite in Davis, Thursday. The UC Davis Afghan Student Association hosted its first "Kites for a Kause". Spring is the start of the Afghan new year, "when many young Afghans participate in kite flying, a sport that symbolizes Afghan culture, history, independence and personal pride. Watch a video.

Retail heavyweight Target Corp. has shelled out $275,000 to extract itself from a wrongful termination claim by a longtime employee at its Woodland store.

FILE- A Feb. 20, 2012, file photo, shows flat screen televisions at a Target store in Methuen, Mass. Target Corp. is reporting a 1.2 percent increase in first-quarter profit as the discounter pulled in more shoppers for food and trendy fashions. Target’s results come as economists are carefully dissecting consumer spending trends amid growing economic uncertainty. Like many retailers, Target saw that business in April 2012 was disappointing as warmer-than-usual weather earlier in February and March and an early Easter pulled sales forward.

On a wooded and wildlife-rich stretch of Highway 50 in the foothills, Caltrans is about to launch an unusual road safety experiment – for critters and drivers alike.

Caltrans biologist Suzanne Melim stands at the entrance to a wildlife crossing under Highway 50 east of Shingle Springs in El Dorado County.

Deer are caught on camera entering one of several undercrossings in the Sierra for large animals.

The convicted rapist-murderer walked out of the courtroom Friday with his hands cuffed behind his back on his way to a lifetime in prison with no chance of parole, despite his insistence he had nothing to do with the sex killing of a 64-year-old woman.

Sylvester Griffin

Things to do in the Sacramento region.