Girl dead in central Fresno from city’s latest shooting incident. Police seeking answers
A run of violence in the city of Fresno that already had triggered outrage earlier in the week from its police chief continued Saturday night with the deadly shooting of a 16-year-old girl who was dropped off at a hospital but could not be saved.
The victim, identified Sunday as Alize Morales of Fresno, had been taken to Community Regional Medical Center about 7 p.m., but is suspected to have been shot minutes earlier at Belmont Avenue and Calaveras Street.
About 15 rounds were believed to have been fired at the intersection, as detected by the city’s ShotSpotter software, bringing police to the scene. Officers arrived but found no victim.
When the report came in of the girl at the hospital, police began treating the two incidents as if they were related.
A second victim was reported later Saturday night: A 16-year-old boy, shot in the wrist, also was dropped off at the hospital but it wasn’t until later that the hospital and police determined the victims were connected.
Authorities say the girl was shot at least twice in the upper body. No suspects were immediately identified, nor were any additional details provided on what might have led up to the shooting. The people who dropped the boy and girl off at the hospital did not stick around.
A police presence continued at the intersection as of 8 p.m. It was closed to traffic while the investigation continued, as was a longer stretch of Belmont from Glenn to Blackstone avenues. A police helicopter also was flying over the scene.
“We’re canvassing the area, looking for both surveillance as well as witnesses that may have seen what happened,” Fresno Police Lt. Anthony DeWall said.
Task force launched
It was just Wednesday that Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall announced a citywide violent crime suppression task force in response to an alarming trend of homicides and shootings in the city, vowing to use “every tool at our disposal to hold those accountable for the violence in our community.”
In September 2019, there were 22 shootings in the central San Joaquin Valley city. In September this year, that number was 104.
The violence has continued this week, including:
▪ the death of 18-year-old Darnaisha Senegal on Tuesday morning, shot and killed as a house party was wrapping up near Ashlan and North West avenues.
▪ the shooting of Ronshanique Packard, 27, early Friday. Police arrived at West Shaw and North Holt avenues about 12:15 a.m. and found the woman with a gunshot wound to her upper body. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
▪ police on Saturday seeking public assistance to solve the slaying of 47-year-old James Soto. He was found Wednesday night in a vehicle in the 4300 block of East Lamona Avenue but apparently was shot and killed days earlier.
Zero-dollar bail policy blamed
It was following Senegal’s death that Hall announced the need for the task force, blaming the rise in shootings on the state’s zero-dollar bail policy.
The $0 bail for misdemeanor and other low-level offenders was ordered statewide in April to help slow the spread of the coronavirus in California jails. Since then, Fresno officers have seen an upswing in shootings (126%) and homicides (55%), Hall said.
It is unknown how many of the shootings have been or will be tied to offenders who might otherwise have remained in custody if they had been unable to post bail.
There has been increased gang activity, with 80% of the 42 homicides in 2020 (as of Wednesday) considered gang-related.
“This lack of accountability has caused a surge in gang activity in our city,” Hall said.
Another scary incident Friday
Police on Friday investigated a shooting near the same intersection involved in Saturday night’s incident.
It could have turned out much worse.
In the Friday night incident at Glenn and Belmont, a 21-year-old man was shot in the head but the wound was “non-penetrating” and therefore not considered serious.
The victim did not give officers much information to go on, police said, and despite the close proximity, there was no indication the Friday and Saturday night shootings were connected.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 8:18 PM.
