Fresno Shooting Leaves 3 Dead In 'Random Act Of Violence,' Police Chief Says

FRESNO, CA — A man is in custody after he allegedly went on a shooting spree in central Fresno on Tuesday killing three people, in what police chief Jerry Dyer described as a "random act of violence."

Dyer said the three victims were all shot and killed at different locations. At around 10:45 a.m., Dyer said authorities received a gunshot detection alert through the city's ShotSpotter system for two rounds that had been fired. Officers responded to the scene and shortly afterwards received a report of another activation nearby with four rounds fired. Shortly thereafter, authorities received yet another report of an activation, followed by a fourth, all within one minute.

Around the same time, authorities said a man in a PG&E truck drove up to the Fresno police headquarters and said the passenger in his car had been shot. Police said they determined that the passenger had been fatally shot by the suspect they currently have in custody, who was identified as 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad.

After he allegedly shot the man in the truck, Dyer said the suspect began to walk westbound and as he did so he encountered a resident in the area and fired a number of rounds at the individual but missed. He then encountered another man and allegedly fired several rounds at him, killing the man. He then fatally shot a man in the parking lot of a charity, police said.

Police say Muhammad was armed with a revolver at the time. According to the Fresno Bee, he dove to the ground and yelled "Allahu Akhbar" before he was taken into custody.

Dyer said that based on Muhammad's Facebook postings, he had expressed anti-government sentiments and had said that he "does not like white people." He added that it was too early to say whether the shooting involves terrorism.

Muhammad is also suspected in the shooting of a security guard outside a motel in Fresno.

All the shootings were random, unprovoked attacks and while the victims have not been identified, Dyer said they were all white males. Muhammad has some criminal history and has been in the Fresno area for many years.

He faces four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Patch will update this breaking news story.

Image via Fresno Sheriff