2 teen brothers dead after shootout outside north Fresno apartment complex

A wild midday shootout near a busy north Fresno intersection Thursday left two teenage brothers dead and an innocent bystander wounded.

Officers who heard the gunfire about 11:45 a.m. rushed to the scene at Barstow and San Pablo avenues, just west of Blackstone Avenue. Pandemonium followed as dozens of law enforcement officers, firefighters and paramedics sped into the area.

In the center of the Barstow/San Pablo intersection, a female firefighter held a hysterical baby girl apparently pulled from a nearby apartment. The baby was apparently not injured.

Fresno police Lt. Joe Gomez identified the brothers killed in the shootout as Willie Ford, 19, and Denzel Ford, 18.

Willie Ford is known to Fresno police as a west Fresno gang member with previous run-ins, including an arrest in June 2014 when he was caught hiding a loaded .22 caliber handgun in his bag of Cheetos Hot Fries.

The younger brother of the two victims was also killed by a gunshot this year. Benzo Ford, 17, was in the rear bedroom of a southwest Fresno home July 12 when a bullet shot from a nearby alley came through the window, fatally striking him. Police at the time said they believed Benzo Ford was targeted in the shooting.

Gomez said first-arriving officers at Thursday’s scene were pointed to a man allegedly involved in the gunbattle who was hiding in a nearby apartment. He was taken into custody and will be interviewed, Gomez said Thursday evening. A motive has not been determined, but the shooting may have been related to a personal dispute, Gomez said.

The wounded bystander in Thursday’s incident was standing across the street from the shootout and was hit in the leg by a stray round fired in the fusillade, Gomez said. That person was taken to a hospital, but his condition was not known.

Fresno police, Fresno County sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers blocked Barstow at San Pablo as the investigation unfolded. The bodies of the Ford brothers lay in front of an apartment, and Gomez said officers found a handgun nearby.

Officers placed two other men in police vehicles during the investigation, but it was not known whether they are suspects.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 12:34 PM with the headline "2 teen brothers dead after shootout outside north Fresno apartment complex."