Friends, family of Memorial High teen shot in Fig Garden will gather to pray for him

Family and friends of Nick Kauls, a San Joaquin Memorial High School student who was shot and critically wounded Sunday night in Fig Garden, will gather at the school Tuesday evening to pray for him.

Service will be at the Memorial gymnasium at 7 p.m. on the school's campus at Fresno Street just south of McKinley Avenue.

Nick was shot late Sunday night outside a home near Van Ness and Rialto avenues.

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office reported that Nick was wounded as he and a friend were outside a home about 11:45 p.m., when they were approached by several people in an SUV who demanded the pair turn over their belongings. Instead, Nick and the friend ran and someone in the vehicle fired several shots. One struck Nick in the head. An arriving sheriff's deputy administered CPR before Nick was rushed to Community Regional Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.

Both sheriff's detectives and their counterparts at the Fresno Police Department are looking for the SUV and its occupants, because there were two similar robbery attempts in the city Sunday night.

Lt. David Madrigal, of the Fresno police Street Violence Bureau, said his unit met with sheriff's detectives Monday and would do so again Tuesday to compare information.

"They have the bigger case, but we're working with them," he said.

Of the service, Mona Faulkner, superintendent for schools in the Diocese of Fresno, said:

"We're holding hope for the family and Nick. He is a wonderful student and a wonderful young man."

Faulkner said Nick attended school at St. Anthony of Padua before moving on to Memorial.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Friends, family of Memorial High teen shot in Fig Garden will gather to pray for him."