Six people were injured in a gang-related shooting in Fresno, with police investigating despite a lack of cooperation from the victims. (GV Wire File)
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Six people were injured but are expected to survive in what Fresno’s top cop called a gang-related shooting Saturday night.
“Well, on Saturday night, the same time that we were investigating the officer-involved shooting and murder over in southeast Fresno, we received a call for service in Amador and A Street … regarding a victim,” Interim Police Chief Mindy Casto said on Monday.
“All six came in initially as five victims of a shooting, several of which were still on scene and several which had been transported by private vehicle to the hospital. It ended up, later, we learned that there were six victims of that shooting and none of the injuries were fatal.”
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Casto said that all of the victims were involved in a criminal street gang and that none had cooperated with the investigation so far.
“It is a grave matter of concern that six people were shot in the city of Fresno, but it was by no means random,” Casto said. “This criminal street gang had been feuding with another criminal street gang, and that’s what resulted in this shooting.”
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According to Casto, a vehicle drove up and fired shots into a larger crowd, injuring six individuals. The chief also said that the department has video evidence of the scene and is following up on numerous leads.
Busy Saturday Night for Law Enforcement
The shooting occurred on a busy night for the department, which was also handling an officer-involved shooting and a murder investigation in southeast Fresno. Casto said additional officers were called in on overtime, including officers who had just finished working the Fresno State football game.
She also acknowledged the assistance of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, which sent several teams to help maintain order in the Tower District of Fresno.
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When asked about the challenge of moving forward with uncooperative victims, Casto noted, “We have our ways. It’s not obviously a preferred or ideal situation, but the detectives are relentless and they’ll continue to follow up, going out door to door, talking to people, soliciting for video.”
Despite the weekend’s events, Casto highlighted a 38% drop in shootings year-to-date.
“Although it was a busy weekend, we are still in very good shape as far as crime in the city of Fresno and keeping that under control,” she said.