Fresno officer shoots and kills suspect armed with kitchen knife after family disturbance

One man was shot and killed by police Friday morning following a domestic situation between two family members in southeast Fresno.

He was identified Monday by the Fresno County Coroner’s Office as Jason Rodriguez, 46, of Fresno.

Police were called to the scene around 7 a.m. Friday for a report of a domestic disturbance, according to Fresno Police Deputy Chief Pat Farmer.

Officers arrived to find two men, identified by police as brothers, arguing in the street near a home near South Helm and East Townsend avenues.

One of the brothers was armed with six-inch kitchen steak knife.

Officers, including a crisis negotiator and a member of the department’s crisis intervention team, began speaking with the suspect, trying to get him to drop the knife and surrender. Before that could happen, the brother tried to tackle the suspect and was stabbed in the chest.

Officers tried a second time to talk the suspect into dropping the knife, before using less-than-lethal weapons in an attempt to subdue him. Officers hit the suspect with bean bags multiple times and used a Taser, which had little effect, Farmer said during a news conference at the scene.

The suspect was still armed with the knife when he was confronted by a third officer on the front grass of his family’s home. He sprinted toward the officer.

“That officer began to back peddle and give commands,” Farmer said.

The officer fired four to five rounds and the suspect collapsed on the lawn.

Emergency personnel performed CPR at the scene and the suspect was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where he died, Farmer said. The brother who was stabbed was in stable condition and the wound was not life-threatening.

All three officers were wearing body cameras and that footage will be part of the investigation, Farmer said.

The suspect was in town visiting family following the funeral of his grandfather, Farmer said, and had been having issues with drugs, specifically meth, according to the family. They told police the suspect had been hallucinating the night before and thought someone was breaking into the house and that he was having delusions prior to the altercation that led to police being called.

The neighborhood was closed to traffic Friday afternoon as investigations continued. The department’s homicide team was at the scene, along with the district attorney, the independent police auditor and the department’s civil liability team, Farmer said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 9:48 AM.