Two years after Clovis man shot to death, alleged killer to face murder charge
More than two years after Kalen Evans Borchardt, 26, of Clovis was fatally shot in northwest Fresno, the man accused of his murder will be arraigned in court.
Christian Jeffrey Coppedge, 20, is expected to enter his plea on Sept. 28 in Judge Jame Kelly’s courtroom. Coppedge is charged with one count of murder with a gun enhancement.
Police said the shooting took place around 3:30 a.m. on March 2, 2019 in an apartment complex in the 3500 block of N. Parkway Drive, near Highway 99. When police arrived they found Borchardt’s wounded body lying in the parking lot. He was suffering from a gunshot wound to the head and was unresponsive. Despite rescue efforts, Borchardt died at the scene.
About a month after the shooting police arrested Coopedge and Yanira Cisneros-Beltran, who was charged with being an accessory to murder. Court records also show Cisneros-Beltran, 21, is facing charges of oral copulation of a person under 18 and unlawful intercourse.
Coppedge, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was housed in the Fresno County Juvenile Justice Campus because of his age. He was also waiting for a transfer hearing in juvenile court to find out if he should face the murder charge as an adult.
A juvenile court judge approved his transfer to Fresno County Jail where he will sit until his arraignment on Sept. 28 in Dept. 32.
Coppedge’s bail was set at $1.5 million.
Borchardt’s father Brian Borchardt declined to comment when contacted Tuesday. But he’s taken his own action against his son’s alleged killer. Borchardt filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit on Feb. 22 against Coppedge, Cisneros, the biological and step-parents of Coppedge and the apartment complex.
In the lawsuit, Borchardt describes his son as a compassionate, smart, loving son and brother who was killed when Coppedge pointed a “firearm at Kalen’s chin and discharged it.”
Borchardt blamed the parents of the accused shooter for not supervising Coppedge and the apartment complex for allowing the violence to happen.
Borchardt is seeking financial damages.
This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
