Fresno victims targeted at random: police
Shooter wanted to kill as many white people as possible
One man had just started a new job with the gas company and was riding in a utility truck. Another was carrying a bag of groceries after stopping at a Catholic Charities centre. The third man was in the charity’s parking lot.
All three were shot and killed at random by a black gunman who police say wanted to kill as many white people as possible.
Zackary Randalls was the first to die when Kori Ali Muhammad walked up to a Pacific Gas & Electric truck and fired into the passenger seat. The driver sped to the police department for help, but Randalls could not be saved.
Friend Eddie Valencia said Randalls was excited to start work as a customer-service representative and was doing a ridealong Tuesday. He described the 34-year-old as an open-minded person with a sharp wit and a big heart.
He said his friend, who left behind two preschoolers and a wife in Clovis, would not want people to feel anger toward the shooter.
“He wouldn’t want people to be divided by this,” Valencia said. “There were no boundaries with race, religions, beliefs, with anything. If you were a good person and basically could have a good conversation, he would call you a friend. He was a stand-up guy.”
The three men killed Tuesday happened to be on the same block at the same time, but had no known connection to each other or to the shooter, who told police about his goal of killing white people after he was arrested. He is expected to be arraigned Friday.
Mark Gassett, 37, of Fresno, had just picked up groceries at a Catholic Charities building when he was gunned down. His body was draped in a blanket on the sidewalk leading to Stephen Hughes’ home.
“It looks like a guy carrying his groceries home from the store,” said Hughes, 66, who rushed home after receiving a frantic call about the shootings from a neighbour.
David Jackson, 58, of Fresno, was gunned down in the parking lot of the charity’s building.
“These were unprovoked attacks,” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.
Two Latina women and a child also crossed paths with Muhammad, who pointed the gun at them as they sat in their car trying to flee, but he did not shoot.
Muhammad, 39, was arrested shortly after the rampage. He is expected to be charged with four counts of murder — one each for Tuesday’s three victims plus the slaying of a white Motel 6 security guard who was killed last week.
Police had been looking for Muhammad in the death of the guard, 25-year-old Carl Williams. Muhammad said seeing his name and picture in a news release Tuesday morning helped spur the attacks in which he fired 16 rounds in less than two minutes at four places within a block.
“I did it. I shot them,” Muhammad told officers as they arrested him, according to the chief.
During the arrest, Muhammad shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” but the shootings had “nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made,” Dyer said.
“This is solely based on race,” he said.