Fresno police officer shoots armed teenager after carjacking

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A teenager is in critical condition after being shot by Fresno police early Saturday morning. They say he was armed with a handgun after carjacking a woman less than an hour earlier. Chief Jerry Dyer says the 17-year-old suspect is expected to survive his injury.

In the middle of the night, a sleepy neighborhood was shaken awake by a car crash. It happened at about 2 a.m. near Blythe and Cornell avenues in West Central Fresno.

"I heard a loud boom, and I woke up, and my dogs were going crazy," said Leilani De Los Santos.

De Los Santos is just 18 years old. She is only one year older than the teen accused of smashing the stolen car into her driveway. Pictures from the crash show the stolen car tangled with her father's new company van.

"Next thing you know we go to the kitchen to look, and you just see him on the ground," said De Los Santos.

Police were chasing the suspect, when he lost control of the car. De Los Santos says the suspect ended up on her lawn. Police say the teen ran from the crash armed with a handgun, and the officer opened fire.

"There was three shots that we heard. The first one must have been his, then the cops shot him, and then the second shot the cops shot went through the fence," said De Los Santos.

Chief Dyer says it's unclear if the suspect fired any rounds from his gun.

The initial carjacking, police say, started at a Johnny Quick store down the street. Dyer says the suspect targeted a 36-year-old woman leaving the store.

"He stuck what was described as a large handgun in her face and said 'if you want to live, you better give me your keys,'" said Dyer.

The suspect remains in critical condition and is expected to survive. But De Los Santos says during the tense moments before he was treated for his wounds, the suspect didn't think he was going to live.

"His last words that I heard him say, not that he passed away, was that 'I don't think I'm going to make it. Tell my mom I love her,'" said De Los Santos.

After the suspect recovers, he will be booked for carjacking charges. The officer in question remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.