Two teenagers arrested on murder charges for Fresno’s first homicide of 2020

Fresno police have made two arrests in a January shooting that marked the city’s first homicide of the year.

Two teenagers – 14 and 16 years old – were taken into custody on Friday and charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other felony charges, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Fresno Police Department.

The boys were not identified because of their ages, though police said they are related and from Fresno.

They are suspected of killing 18-year-old Dezon Cheatham and injuring 17-year-old Christyan Roberts in the shooting, which took place on Tyler Avenue near Fifth Street.

Cheatham had recently enlisted in the U.S. Army and was scheduled to leave in February. Roberts was a youth leader at his church. Neither had gang ties and neither was armed during the shooting.

Police have not released a motive for the shooting.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 11:50 AM.