Four dead in Selma murder-suicide

SELMA – A Selma man shot and killed his wife and two of his children before turning the gun on himself Saturday morning.

The Selma Police Department received a 911 call from Avtar Singh, 47, just after 6 a.m. on June 9. Singh told the dispatcher that he had just killed four people and was about to kill himself, then hung the phone up.

Avtar Singh

Police responded to Singh’s house near Pine and Shaft streets, and called in the help of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office because they knew the suspect had military experience in India. Once at the home, officers tried to contact Singh, but received no response.

Officers evacuated the neighborhood, and around 8 a.m. the sheriff’s SWAT team sent a robot into the house. The robot revealed one injured person, but did not detect any other living people, according to Sheriff Margaret Mims.

When the SWAT team entered the home, they found 17-year-old Chris Singh, one of Avtar Singh’s sons, with severe head trauma. He was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery on Saturday afternoon. He is currently listed in critical condition.

The SWAT team then discovered Avtar Singh’s body in the living room, his wife and 3-year-old son dead in the master bedroom, and his 15-year-old son dead in another bedroom, all from apparent gunshot wounds to the head.

This usually quiet Selma neighborhood was the scene of the murder suicide

“This is a horrific thing,” Mims said.

This is not the first time that police have been to Singh’s home in Selma. Last year, officers were called to the home to look into a domestic violence incident. At the time, they discovered that Singh was wanted for crimes in another country.

“He had a warrant for his arrest out of the country of India for murder,” Mims said.

Mims said that Indian officials chose not to extradite Singh and so the police had no reason to hold him.

Around two months ago, Singh called the Selma Police Department to complain about the media not leaving him alone because of the murder warrant and said that he couldn’t live like that, Mims said.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 488-3111.

Read More:

KFSN-TV: Selma Murder-Suicide; the background of Avtar Singh

Hanford Sentinal: Questions arise about identity of survivor in Selma murder/suicide

Fresno Bee: Survivor of Selma murder-suicide still critical