Officer arrives at gang-related gun battle near Fresno State, fires at suspects

A gang-related gun battle that broke out in northeast Fresno near Fresno State University was interrupted by a police officer who arrived and opened fire.

The officer apparently didn’t hit anyone, but the preceding gunfight resulted in one man being struck several times, police said Wednesday.

Two men are under arrest. One is the brother of the 33-year-old man who was shot, while the other is a cousin, police said.

At least two other men are at large.

Just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, police were sent to University Inn motel on Shaw Avenue near Fresno State’s Save Mart Center to answer a call about a suspicious person knocking on doors, police said.

The first officer to arrive came upon an ongoing gun battle involving several people.

As shots rang out, the officer, a 20-year veteran of the force, got out of his squad car, drew his handgun and confronted the men in the parking lot on the east side of the motel.

The officer saw one man hit by gunfire, then ordered the others to drop their weapons. Instead, two of them ran into bushes and disappeared, only to re-emerge in the parking lot where additional shots were fired, police said.

The officer opened fire at the two men as they moved north through the parking lot before they ran east into a large apartment complex.

When more police showed up, the initial officer started helping the man on the ground, who had been shot in the upper torso and right arm. The victim, whose name was not made public, was taken into surgery at Community Regional Medical Center and was in stable condition, police said.

The victim’s brother, Jimmy Martinez, 34, was arrested forallegedly being a felon in possession of a gun. Meanwhile, Erik Martinez, 25, the cousin of Jimmy Martinez, was arrested for allegedly resisting arrest and interfering in the investigation, police said.

Randal Steinhauer, a guest at University Inn, was inside his room with his 14-month-old daughter when the gunshots rang out.

“I heard gunshots so I grabbed my daughter and went into the bathroom to protect her,” said Steinhauer, 36. “After a little while, like 10 or 15 minutes later, I looked outside and cops were already here.”

Steinhauer said he saw the victim lying between two cars as two officers checked on him. Another man was yelling at the officers, asking them to get an ambulance there, he said.

“It had really been calm here until last night,” Steinhauer said. “This is the first incident and I had been here a couple months now. I like it here, it’s quiet, but now its making me and my wife not feel safe here anymore.”

Offices found two handguns, a .22 caliber semi-automatic and a .38 revolver. Police were figuring out which guns were fired in the melee.

Police said at least two people were at large but officers did not have their names yet, and are still investigating if any of the suspects fired at the officer, Lt. Mark Hudson said.

Investigators found bullet strikes on several cars in the area where the gunfire erupted.

Another guest of the inn, Debrah Holmes, 55, described the aftermath of the shooting as “chaotic and busy.” She said she and her husband stayed in their room, listening to the gunshots.

“We were upstairs and I heard gunshots,” Holmes said. “So I told my husband to keep your head down. Once I heard who I believe to be an officer say, ‘Stop, put your hands up,’ I knew it was safe, so I looked outside and saw officers everywhere.”

The first-responding officer was placed on paid administrative leave, standard procedure during the investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 559-498-7867.

This story was originally published February 28, 2018 at 6:37 AM with the headline "Officer arrives at gang-related gun battle near Fresno State, fires at suspects."