Woman critically wounded in Fresno rush hour shooting. Gunman on loose

A gunman was at large after a shooting Friday morning that left a woman critically injured and closed a major Fresno intersection for nearly six hours.

Fresno police say a woman in her 30s was shot in the upper torso while driving north on First Street at Herndon Avenue. As she tried to escape in her car, she crashed into a white pickup. She was rushed to Community Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

Investigators have a large crime scene and blocked off streets in the area, including Herndon to westbound traffic at Millbrook Avenue and First north of Sierra Avenue. Fresno police said just after 2 p.m. that the roads were open again.

Police spokeswoman Diana Trueba Vega said the shooting happened shortly after 8 a.m. The woman was driving a brown SUV northbound on First when the shooter, a man riding in a light-colored sedan driven by a third person, fired at her. The wounded woman’s SUV crashed into the pickup at the Herndon intersection.

Trueba Vega said the shooter, believed to be a white male in his mid-40s, and the woman likely know each other, but no additional details on the relationship were released. The suspect is described as having a heavy build and a bald head.

Other details, including the direction the shooter went from the scene, were not immediately known.

This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 9:37 AM.