Officer killed in Fresno County spoke of unborn son as he bled out, witness says
The Selma police officer gunned down three years ago in a shooting that stunned Fresno County worried about his unborn son as he withered from four gunshot wounds, according to court testimony on Wednesday.
The preliminary hearing for Nathaniel Dixon, who was accused of fatally shooting Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. on Jan. 31, 2023, began in Fresno County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Selma Detective Richard Figueroa was one of the first responders on scene as fellow officers tried to stanch the bleeding from Carrasco’s four bullet wounds. Figueroa stopped to fight back emotion more than once during his testimony, including when he was asked Carrasco’s name.
“He said some words to me,” Figueroa said. “He said, ‘Detective Figueroa, if I die, I have a kid.’ ”
Carrasco, a 24-year-old native of Reedley, had been an officer since May 2021 and had a baby on the way. Maximus Gonzalo Carrasco was born about a month later to Karla Alvarez, who was also a Selma officer.
Carrasco was approaching a man who had walked into the yard of a Selma resident, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said in the days after his killing.
Dixon’s public defender has argued the identity of the shooter is in dispute. Residents present on the day of the shooting who were called to testify were not allowed to immediately see Dixon’s face in the courtroom, an uncommon practice.
They were only allowed to see him after Judge Houry A. Sanderson determined their examination revealed they had enough time to have recognized him. Media cameras in the courtroom were ordered not to show his face.
Three residents of the neighborhood near Pine Street, where Carrasco was shot, pointed out Dixon in the courtroom.
Joe Valdez Jr. said the shooting happened so quickly he wasn’t aware the suspect had a gun until it was fired. He tried to comfort the dying officer.
“He was gurgling,” Valdez said. “I told him he’d be OK, because he’s a cop. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
Another resident said she saw a man fleeing the scene after the shooting. She remembered he had a distinct tattoo on his face, Marlene Rios Aispuru said with the help of an interpreter.
“It was a dog,” she said in Spanish.
Dixon sat in the courtroom not speaking, wearing a gray blazer over his jail issued clothing. He wore glasses and had his hair pulled into a ponytail, as well as tattoos on his face investigators have described as Bulldog gang markings.
The killing of Gonzalo Carrasco
Carrasco was on a routine patrol in a police car about 11:52 a.m. on the day of the shooting in a residential Selma neighborhood west of Highway 99, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has said.
As Carrasco approached a man, they spoke briefly. Carrasco turned his car around and as he passed the man again, a homeowner told the officer that Dixon did not belong on the property, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The officer got out of his cruiser and approached the man before the suspect shot the officer multiple times with a .223 caliber, assault rifle-style ghost gun — an illegally obtained gun that is purchased in parts before it is assembled, investigators have said.
Dr. Angellee Chen said Wednesday Carrasco was struck once in his left chest, once in his right elbow and twice in his hip and buttocks region.
The judge held Dixon to answer on charges of murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, which sets him on course for a jury trial. His arraignment was set for April 2.
If convicted of all charges, the defendant faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty.
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 5:45 PM.
