"USA…USA…USA…etc.,."
Some people waved giant American flags. Others were dressed in patriotic clothing. Two of the people in the crowd were Shane Cochran of Elk Grove and Cali Beebee of Sacramento:
"It's more of a symbol thing than anything else. We're just happy that people can find a little bit of relief in something like this."
"We came down here, no political affiliation, nothing. We were just talking about how we were both freshmen in high school when September 11th happened. It was a big deal for us then so we wanted to be somewhere, be patriotic."
Cochran and Beebee said - after they heard President Obama's announcement last night, they figured the State Capitol would be an appropriate place to celebrate.
Meanwhile, a prominent Sacramento area Muslim leader says he hopes the death of Osama bin Laden will usher in a new, positive era of U.S. - Muslim relations.
Basim Elkarra heads the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations…or CAIR. Elkarra says bin Laden's demise will help Americans to distinguish extremist terrorists from the mainstream Islamic faith.
"The president made it clear that this was not a war against Islam and that bin Laden is not a Muslim leader and he killed, not only did he kill Americans, but he killed hundreds of thousands, and his ideology killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims worldwide. I think this will be welcomed all over."
Muslim leaders say some fundamentalist groups may try to seek retaliation for bin Laden's killing. But they say they're hopeful it's the end of an era of darkness in U. S. - Muslim relations.