Man found fatally shot inside a vehicle in central Fresno

A homicide investigation is underway after a body was discovered in a vehicle in central Fresno early Sunday.

Reports came in of a possible shooting victim about 2:30 a.m. in the area of Tyler Avenue and Eighth Street, according to Fresno police.

Officers arrived and found a man in a vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body. The victim’s name was not immediately available.

Detectives were working to get more information, including whether the homicide might have been gang-related.

Updated totals were not available Sunday from the Fresno Police Department, but it would be at least the 52nd homicide in the city — the second-highest total in the past 11 years. There were 45 homicides in all of 2019, 32 in 2018 and 56 in 2017, according to monthly crime reports posted by the department through December 2019.

The only other recent year with 50 or more was in 2012, when there were 51.

Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall has cited the state’s zero-dollar bail policy, implemented in part to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus in county jails around California, as one of the main factors for a rise in shootings and other violence in the city this year.

Most violent offenders and those accused of crimes involving guns or gang activity are excluded from $0 bail eligibility.

After a spring and summer spike, Hall said last week that the number of shootings fell by 60% from September to October. The chief credited the improvement to the task force established by his department in early October in response to the surge.

This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 3:47 PM.