Fresno police officer shot in exchange for gunfire, suspect dead

Fresno, California – A Fresno police officer was involved in a shootout on the 3700 block of East Platt Avenue.

According to Chief Mandy Casto, there had been a gunshot spotting trip on 8th St. and Verrue streets.

Officers went to the scene and investigated.

After about an hour, a sergeant was parked nearby when the shooting suspect returned and opened fire on the patrol unit for an unknown reason.

The sergeant was in the patrol unit when he was hit. Even though he had been shot, he gave chase to the suspect vehicle. The chase only lasted about a block when the suspect crashed.

The suspect then got out of his car and started shooting again. The wounded officer and two other patrol units returned fire.

Officers shot the suspect and he fell to the ground, after which officers restrained him and rendered aid to both the suspect and the sergeant. Both were taken to the Community Regional Medical Center trauma unit.

The injured police officer was hit in the lower body and is in stable condition.

The suspect has died.

Prior to this, officers had retrieved video footage from a home that showed a suspect leaving the home with a firearm.

One officer called two ambulances, one for a suspect “He’s down” and one for himself, he then called a 1199 code.

While officers secured one of the four crime scenes, officers went to the home where the suspect was seen. They forced the door open and discovered that a person had been shot on Verrue Street. That victim is probably from the first shotspotter trip at 5:20 p.m

The suspect fired an AR-style pistol.

Chief Casto said the sergeant showed incredible courage and calmness while taking fire.