FRESNO COUNTY – A third suspect in the murder of a prominent Central Valley farmer was arrested in Calwa on Friday evening.
Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 25-year-old Fabian Mansanalez in connection to the killing of George Salwasser, Jr., 38, last Thursday.
Deputies say the shooting that ended Salwasser’s life happened Thursday around 6:15 p.m. on Howard Avenue north of Shields Avenue in the Kerman area. Salwasser, a father of four and owner of George Salwasser Farms, confronted three suspects as they stripped a stolen truck near his home, according to the sheriff’s department.
Maria Mansanalez
“He was coming up on the scene as he was calling 911. And that’s when he was murdered,” said Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims.
Minutes later, a 911 operator got a call about an injured man lying on the side of the road in the Biola area. It turned out to be Salwasser, who had been shot by the suspects and died at the scene.
Witnesses who lived nearby, one of whom had followed the vehicle that the suspects fled in, were able to give detectives leads that helped lead them to two of the suspects. Maria Mansanalez, 24, and Adrian Aceves, 23, both from Fresno, were found the same night as the murder, hiding under a canal bridge about two miles from the scene of the crime.
Fabian Mansanalez spent the night on the run, but was caught and arrested by MAGEC deputies late Friday evening in the Calwa area.
Adrian Aceves
All three suspects will be charged with murder, according to the sheriff’s department.
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