Third shooting in a day, and second that turns deadly, kills man in southeast Fresno

A man was killed late Saturday in southeast Fresno in the city’s 63rd homicide of the year, police said — the last of three shootings in town on the day including another deadly incident.

Just after 11:30 p.m. officers received reports of shots fired near South Fifth Street and East Braly Avenue, Fresno Police Lt. Anthony DeWall said.

Police arrived and found a man with multiple gunshot wounds lying next to a bike.

Officers began CPR and the victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The victim was identified Tuesday by the Fresno County Coroner’s Office as David Sifuentes, 42, of Fresno.

Witnesses told officers that three men were seen running in the area, coming from a side street, DeWall said. One of the three then shot the victim. All in the group of three fled the area in an unknown direction.

Several shell casings were found on the street. As the investigation continued, DeWall said, police still had not confirmed if the shooting was gang related.

Fresno already had established a 10-year high in willful homicides. The previous high since 2010 were the 56 committed in 2017. The only other year with at least 50 was in 2012, when there were 51.

There were 45 homicides in the city in all of 2019 and 32 in 2018.

Saturday’s series of shootings included the 62nd homicide of 2020. A 36-year-old woman was shot in the head just after 6 p.m. inside a home in west central Fresno.

Investigators were trying to learn why another resident let the eventual assailant inside, with the attacker then forcing someone at the home to drive and drop him off elsewhere in town.

Still earlier, a 36-year-old man was shot and critically injured while driving along a Fresno highway. The man was on Highway 99 just after 3 p.m., approaching the transition to Highway 180, when another car pulled alongside and opened fire.

A passenger in the car was not hurt, according to the California Highway Patrol, which was handling that investigation.

Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall in October launched a citywide violent crime suppression task force in response to the alarming trend of homicides and shootings.

This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 5:24 PM.