17-year-old from Coalinga ID’d as victim of fatal shooting on Fresno County highway
A teenager was killed in a double shooting that left a portion of Highway 145 in southern Fresno County closed Wednesday afternoon, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department.
The victim who died was identified Thursday by the Fresno County Coroner’s Office as Gregory Sanchez, 17, of Coalinga.
Sanchez was shot in his lower body and flown to a hospital in Hanford, where he died, said sheriff’s office spokesperson Tony Botti. The second victim, an 18-year-old man, had a non-lethal gunshot wound to the arm.
Botti said a California Highway Patrol officer was making a traffic stop around 1 p.m. when a Honda Fit crossed the center divider in the area of Highway 145 south of Excelsior Avenue near Five Points.
The driver of the Honda stopped and informed the officer that his two passengers had been shot.
The driver said he was driving south in the area of Highway 145 near Colusa and Yuba avenues when another vehicle pulled along side them and started to open fire, Botti said.
Investigators are working on a description of the shooter(s), who remains at large.
The attack is not considered random, the sheriff’s office reported Thursday while asking for the public’s help with the case:
“We would like to ask anyone in the public who was driving that route of Hwy. 145 between Highway 269 and Yuba Ave. around 1:00 pm to contact us if they saw any unusual behavior occur between the victims’ gray Honda Fit and another vehicle on the road. This may help give us a better description of the suspect’s vehicle.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 559-600-3111 or Crime Stoppers at 559-498-7867.
It’s the second homicide investigation of the year for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, Botti said.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 2:59 PM.
