Fresno suicide may have killed mother of his children

FRESNO – A heated conversation led to a woman’s death, a seven-hour standoff, and the suspect taking his own life in a southeastern Fresno apartment complex on Tuesday.

According to Fresno police, a 28-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was shot dead in the middle of Shields and Sierra Vista avenues around 4 p.m. following an argument with the father of her two children.

The 34-year-old male suspect, whose name was also not revealed, took off in a car after the shooting and barricaded himself inside an apartment located on the 4700 block of Yale Avenue, which was about a couple of blocks south from where the woman was killed.

Police received a call indicating that there was a man entering an apartment with a gun in his hand. The apartment belonged to the suspect’s brother.

After the suspect confined himself inside the apartment, a SWAT team was called to the scene. Police said the suspect’s family members tried coaxing him out from outside the apartment.

But the suspect remained confined, and soon there was another gunshot.

According to Fresno police Lt. Mark Salazar, the 34-year-old suspect was discovered late Tuesday night inside the apartment dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with a TEC-9 rifle lying beside his body.

“The SWAT team deployed and went in there and discovered the male died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Salazar said.

Salazar indicated that both the woman and the male had two children together, but were not married. The couple’s children are currently in the custody of other family members.

Lt. Mike Doyle of the Fresno Police Department addressed the family’s reaction to the apparent murder-suicide.

“They’re very distraught over this entire ordeal,” Doyle said. “Not only on her side but his side.”