Shot at a Fresno intersection, man drives far enough to get friend’s help to reach hospital
A man shot several times while stopped at a Fresno intersection was able to drive far enough to pick up someone to take him the rest of the way to the hospital, where he was listed Monday night in critical condition.
Police were first alerted just after 6 p.m., when they received reports of shots fired into a vehicle at McKinley and Chestnut avenues in the east-central part of the city, according to Lt. Israel Reyes.
Officers arrived only to see no sign of the car. Moments later, a vehicle was spotted that matched the description of one of those involved in the shooting.
Traveling south on Chestnut Avenue, police followed until it stopped at Community Regional Medical Center, where officers found a woman driving and a 28-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper torso.
Officers learned that the man was alone in his vehicle traveling north on Chestnut, approaching McKinley, when he stopped to make a turn, Reyes said. A green minivan with three men inside pulled up behind and as they waited out the light, the minivan driver exited, approached the victim and opened fire.
The assailant got back into his vehicle and headed south on Chestnut. The victim was able to start driving but eventually stopped to let a woman he knew take over and get him to the hospital.
No specifics about the suspect or the other men in the minivan were immediately available.
Fresno deals with shooting, homicide surge
The incident came as the latest in another string of shootings that have plagued the city, off and on, since spring 2020.
Hours earlier, police and other Fresno officials called a news conference in reaction to the Sunday afternoon shooting death of a Fresno street vendor.
Police Chief Paco Balderrama identified the vendor as southeast Fresno resident Lorenzo Perez, 45.
“The truth is, whether this is a food vendor or anyone else that was killed in our city, it should create a sense of outrage — and outrage with everyone in our community,” Mayor Jerry Dyer said. “The fact that sometimes it doesn’t, I think, clearly demonstrates how numb we have become the violence within this city. Enough is enough.”
So far in 2021, there have been 20 homicides in Fresno. Thirteen were gang-related, Balderrama said. At this time last year, there were only five homicides, he said.
Another man was shot and killed while pumping gas on Saturday.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 8:56 PM.