Man with knife killed by police in Fresno identified. Three officers fired their weapons
Fresno police identified a man whom they said did not respond to their commands to drop a knife before three officers fatally shot him.
The knife-wielding man meandering around a police substation fence around 11 p.m. Saturday at Fresno and B streets who caught the attention of officers was identified as Coy Jackson, 33, police said in an update Monday.
Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama said Saturday at the scene it was possible Jackson went to the substation seeking a confrontation with police, because the chief said he couldn’t see any reason a person would be hanging around the substation gate in the Kearney Palms shopping center.
The station is in a shopping center with a grocery store, hair supply store, doughnut shop and several other businesses. Most of the businesses were closed at that hour.
The fatal shooting was the department’s second officer-involved shooting in two weeks.
Officers noticed Jackson by a police gate and said his behavior was suspicious. When officers approached to speak to him, Jackson pulled a knife, according to police.
The knife was described by police as a fixed-blade knife like a Bowie knife of about 7 inches. All three officers fired their service weapons, police said.
“The officers communicated with him and tried to de-escalate and, at some point, this civilian started approaching the officers, made some movements that were aggressive and they were forced to discharge their weapons,” Balderrama said Saturday.
Jackson died at the hospital, police said.
Balderrama said he had watched the video of the incident and said the officers attempted to communicate with Jackson and de-escalate the situation with no response from Jackson.
The officers’ names have not been released.
Fresno police shoot, kill suspect March 4
Saturday’s violence marked the second person fatally shot by Fresno police in March.
Fresno Police on March 4 exchanged shots with and killed a man who fled a traffic stop. Police said they used patrol cruisers to strike the suspect’s car, which spun out of control near Herndon and Ingram avenues.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta said the California Department of Justice would review the fatal encounter and provide an independent review under Assembly Bill 1506.
The Fresno Police had three officer-involved shootings at this time last year, Balderrama said.
This story was originally published March 20, 2023 at 11:43 AM.
