Clovis police shoot, kill double homicide suspect

CLOVIS – Police fatally shot a man who would not stand down after he killed his elderly mother and neighbor.

The incident took place around 12:30 a.m. on April 13 when the Clovis Police Department received information about shootings that took place near downtown Clovis.

“We received several calls in the morning of shots fired,” said Janet Stoll-Lee, spokesperson for the police department.

Christopher Machado

Police would later discover that the shots came from the gun of 40-year-old Christopher Machado. According to police, Machado shot and killed his 73-year-old mother, Edith Machado, in the home the two shared together at 221 Eighth Street.

After killing his mother, Machado went on to fatally shoot Vernon Eugene Lindsay, 60, a neighbor across the street who opened his door to see what was happening.

Machado then proceeded to knock on the door of the nearby Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church’s convent, but nobody answered the door. He then went inside the sanctuary and fired a shot at the crucifix on the altar.

After leaving the sanctuary, Machado approached another neighbor’s house and knocked on the door. The woman who lived there refused to answer the door. It was at that time that police officers arrived on the scene and came face to face with the gunman.

“While they were looking through the area doing a safety check, the suspect confronted them with a firearm, at which point there was an officer-involved shooting,” Stoll-Lee said.

Machado ignored commands to put down his shotgun, and two officers fired their guns, according to police. Machado was hit by the gunfire around 12:40 a.m. and died three hours later at Community Regional Medical Center.

Police don’t know what caused Machado to go on a shooting spree that morning. However, he had just been in jail the previous week on suspicion of elder abuse and being drunk in public. He was released after one day because they were misdemeanor charges, according to Fresno County jail records.

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