Fresno police shoot armed man in Tower District

A Fresno man who police and witnesses say was armed with a handgun and made references to Lucifer was shot by officers Friday morning in the Tower District after he refused to drop the weapon, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

Dorian Man, 21, was wounded in the face by one round fired from an officer’s rifle after he confronted police on the 1400 block of North Roosevelt Avenue, near the major intersection of Palm and McKinley avenues, Dyer said.

Dyer said officers went to the neighborhood after receiving several 911 calls about a man with a handgun who had attacked several individuals. The suspect, later identified as Man, eluded officers for several minutes by running between houses on Roosevelt and Wilson avenues. Dyer said Man told witnesses he was Lucifer.

As more officers arrived, Man was contained to a yard several houses south of Pine Avenue. Police said Man was holding the handgun as he ran toward a sergeant, who fired one round from his service rifle that went through Man’s cheek.

At least 10 commands for Man to drop the pistol could be heard by witnesses immediately before the shot was fired. Officers administered first aid immediately after the shooting, but Dyer said Man continued to struggle and had to be restrained by his arms and legs as he was rushed to Community Regional Medical Center. His wound was reported to be non-life-threatening.

Police recovered a fully loaded 9 mm handgun at the scene, Dyer said. The chief said Man has had violent encounters with officers before and that he has previous arrests for robbery, making terrorist threats and felony assault on officers. Fresno County court records show Man recently was in court on charges of resisting arrest and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Samantha and Daniel Estrada, who were confronted by Man after they stopped their car to check on him, said they called police when they saw he was armed.

“He was trying to hide behind a tree,” Daniel Estrada saud. “We asked him, ‘What are you doing?’

“He said, ‘I’m Lucifer,’ and I told him, ‘I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,’ and he said, ‘Jesus has no power on Earth.’

“I said, ‘You know what? God has all the strength here.’

“He froze up, laid down the sweater he was carrying and we saw he had a gun. We left and called the police.”

Samantha Estrada said when she and her husband first saw Man, he asked her if she was his sister, and when she said no, he praised Lucifer.

Police said Man faces charges of felony brandishing of a firearm and possibly felony assault on police officers.

It was the second officer-involved shooting involving Fresno police this year.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Fresno police shoot armed man in Tower District."