Suspect dies after being shot by Fresno County deputies during standoff, two people rescued

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A suspect has died after being shot by Fresno County deputies.

The gunfire followed an hours-long standoff, which led to a neighborhood being evacuated and two people being rescued.

The SWAT team, ambulances and dozens of deputies rushed to Belmont and Wintergreen avenues early Tuesday morning.

It all started when a Fresno County sheriff's deputy responded to a report of shots fired around 2 am.

Authorities say a man opened fire on the deputy, striking the deputy's patrol vehicle and then ran back to his home.

That's when more resources were brought in.

"A SWAT team responded along with our crisis negotiations team, in order to try to talk to the suspect." Asst. Sheriff John Zanoni said.

Throughout the early morning hours, officials say the suspect was outside on the property.

They say he grinded into a five gallon propane tank, causing it to explode.

He then started grinding into a 500 gallon propane tank, causing a natural gas leak.

Authorities say he was trying to blow up the home.

Shortly after, the sheriff's office got a call from a relative who told deputies there were two other family members still inside the home.

"Once the individual went back away from the house SWAT team members went in the house to rescue the two family members and they were successful in getting the family members from the house and to safety." Zanoni said.

Law enforcement evacuated multiple homes in the area as deputies tried to negotiate with the suspect.

Officials say around 5:20 in the morning, negotiations started to fail and the suspect started moving toward the house again.

"We would've continued to negotiated with him, but he started advancing upon us so at that point we were going to hold our ground. We utilized less lethal which was ineffective and, at that point, we utilized deadly force." Zanoni said.

The ambulance was called in immediately, but the suspect died at the scene.