Gunman kills 3 in Fresno
Suspect’s posts show hatred for white people
NATIONAL CRIME /
FRESNO, Calif. — A man who shot and killed three people at random on the streets of downtown Fresno shouted “Allahu akbar” during his arrest Tuesday and had posted on social media that he disliked white people, authorities said. Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was arrested shortly after the morning rampage that left three white men dead, police said. Muhammad, who is black, fired 16 rounds in one minute at four places within a block.
He walked up to a utility truck and fatally shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee sitting in the passenger seat, authorities say. Muhammad then shot at another person and missed. He aimed at a third, killing him on the sidewalk of a neighborhood lined with tall trees. The final victim was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building.
Authorities spotted Muhammad running and took him into custody. Police are looking for the revolver.
“These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got,” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. “These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today.”
Muhammad, who is homeless, has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false-imprisonment charges and making terrorist threats. He was wanted in connection with a shooting last week that killed a security guard — also a white man — at a Fresno motel.
On what appeared to be Muhammad’s Facebook page, he wrote of “white devils” and often wrote the phrase “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “God is great” in Arabic.