Suspect Dead in Home Invasion Shooting

Detectives with the Fresno police department are investigating what they are calling a home invasion shooting that left the suspect dead. 

It happened around 4:30 p.m. at the Stonegate Apartments on Blythe and Ashlan in northwest Fresno.

Police said, according to the man living in the apartment, a man he didn’t know walked into his apartment, where the door was unlocked but closed.

As detectives investigate exactly what happened, Lt. Mike Doyle with the Fresno Police Department said they are not ready to call it self-defense. He said no one else was in the apartment at the time.

"According to the person who did the shooting–that he (suspect) walked in, sat down, and began making very peculiar statements, kind of crazy talk statements," Doyle said. 

Doyle said, at some point, the man grabbed a shotgun from his room and shot the intruder.

When police got there they found the man, who had been shot once, collapsed outside the apartment.

A CBS 47 employee who was in the area witnessed the aftermath.

"We kind of look over there, and we see a guy just lying there with blood all over his chest," Julian Paredes said.

Doyle said police officers gave the suspect CPR, but he later died at Community Regional Medical Center. 

Police are investigating whether the two knew each other and why the suspect walked into that apartment.

Doyle said the man appeared disheveled and was possibly a transient.

"Broad daylight–hearing [that] it ended the way it did is kind of–wow, surprising," said Irvin Silva, who lives in the apartment complex.

"These are nice apartments. You wouldn’t expect nothing like that," said Luna Rodriguez, who visits the apartment complex often.

Police detained the shooter for questioning.

Doyle said they believe the home invasion suspect was not armed.

"We don’t know what said that transpired between them or what led to the shooting," Doyle said.

For Silva, the shooting is concerning to him as a parent.

"We moved here because it was a gated community, because it is more of a safer environment for them (children). To hear it sort of breached our walls, so to speak, it is concerning," Silva said.

Doyle said police recovered the shotgun that was used. 

The suspect who died has not been identified other than being a Hispanic male adult. 

Doyle said a toxicology report will be done on the deceased suspect to determine whether he was under the influence of anything.