FRESNO – Fresno County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a suspect who they say was wielding a handgun early Thursday morning in Clovis.
The man killed by the deputies has been identified as 23-year-old Robert James Van Camp of Clovis.
Deputies went to Van Camp’s residence after receiving a call from his mother that he had a gun and was suicidal. They were told that Van Camp made threats to not only kill himself, but also other family members, according to the sheriff’s department.
Van Camp also allegedly made statements about committing “suicide by cop,” sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Chris Curtice said.
Deputies responded to the scene around 2:30 a.m. and approached the home on foot. They contacted the Van Camp outside of the home, Curtice said.
“The suspect was still armed. He turned toward the deputies with a handgun. The deputies fired several rounds, striking him more than once,” Curtice said.
Curtice said that there are unconfirmed reports that the suspect may have fired once.
The deputies performed CPR on the man and emergency personnel arrived, but Van Camp died at the scene, Curtice said.
This was not the first time that the sheriff’s department had been called out to the residence.
“We’ve been at the residence over the past 3 years; I think there have been 28 calls for service at this residence. Several different types of calls, including several disturbances and mental health issue calls,” Curtice said.
Curtice said that the deputies did everything “tactically very well,”
“They parked south of the residence and walked up because of the information that they had that this subject was armed and they didn’t want to be ambushed as they walked up,” he said.
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Fresno Bee: Man shot, killed by Fresno County deputies at Clovis home
