Two Fresno homicide victims identified

Fresno police on Thursday identified two men who were the city’s second and third homicide victims of 2016.

Officers responded to a call Wednesday about a dead body inside a vacant apartment at 243 N. Blackstone #5, just south of McKenzie Avenue in central Fresno.

The city’s third homicide victim was identified by police Thursday as 33-year-old Timothy Pellum, Lt. Burke Farrah said.

Anyone with information on Pellum’s slaying is asked to contact homicide detective David Fenstermaker at (559) 621-2445 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-STOP (7867).

William Townsend, 78, the second homicide victim, was found inside a home on the 100 block of East Strother Avenue, south of Kearney Boulevard in southwest Fresno, on Jan. 2 after officers responded to a call about a deceased man, Farrah said.

Police arrested Alton Magee, 46, on Jan 3 after investigators determined he killed Townsend, Farrah said. Magee is a convicted felon and was found to be illegally in possession of a firearm. He was booked in the Fresno County Jail on charges of murder and weapons-related offenses.

Anyone with information related to Townsend’s homicide is asked to call detective Alfonso Castillo at (559) 621-2422, or Crime Stoppers.

Farrah said Fresno also had three homicides by this time last year.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Two Fresno homicide victims identified."