9 guns, 2 fully automatic, seized by Fresno police after violent weekend

Nine firearms, two of them fully automatic weapons, were seized by police in a gang sweep launched in response to a violent weekend of shootings and stabbings, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Tuesday.

There were seven shootings and two stabbing incidents from Friday to Sunday and five of the shootings were gang-related, the chief reported in a news conference called to detail the gang sweep, which involved 50 officers and resulted in 10 felony arrests of gang members.

The aftermath of the violence leaves Fresno with 70 shootings this year, compared to 80 shootings at this time last year. So far in 2019 there have been nine homicides, the same number as last year.

Dyer said 80 percent of the shootings are connected to gang violence. He warned that warmer weather tends to bring out more people, including gang members, and police are prepared for more trouble.

The weekend violence included a fatal knife attack early Sunday in which three others, including two women, were injured. John Sandoval, 20, died in that incident and Danny Duran, 19, was booked in the slaying, which took place near a large apartment complex near North Fruit and West Ashlan avenues.

In a fatal shooting incident, 39-year-old Gerald Wharry was found dead in a car in the 3100 block of West Princeton Avenue, but police believe the shooting took place near West Clinton and North Valentine avenues.

Dyer said police fear there is a possibility of retaliation in both homicides.

Another man was left in critical condition after he was shot Sunday afternoon near Highway 41 and Ashlan Avenue. And a 42-year-old woman sustained major injuries when she was stabbed in the head by a neighbor Sunday, the chief said Tuesday.

In the shooting involving Wharry, police found 22 shell casings near Clinton and Valentine, and Dyer said investigators believe a shootout took place between rival gangs and possibly involved automatic firearms. Such weapons, which fire repeatedly with a single trigger pull, are banned without a special federal permit, and possession of the weapons could lead to federal prosecution, the chief said.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 559-498-7867.