Fresno shootings up 25% this year compared to last year

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Wednesday afternoon, crime tape could be still be found in a Southwest Fresno neighborhood near Amador and Modoc, hours after a shooting late Tuesday night.

The victim was a 15-year-old boy, who was shot in the neck but released from the hospital Wednesday. The shooter was a 14-year-old gang member, according to Fresno Police.

He was arrested minutes after the shooting in a car with three guns. Three other gang members were in the car.

"Perhaps a couple inches away that could have been a murder, we take that very, very seriously, so our street violence section is working that aggressively," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

In the last 28 days, there were two homicides in Southwest Fresno, including a drive-by shooting at Elm and Vine that left one man dead.

"But in many of the cases recently, what we've seen is a drive-by shooting where perhaps no one is struck by the gunfire, and we have no witnesses or at least no one bringing fourth information to us, so it's unknown," Dyer said.

That's frustrating for Fresno's top cop, who says there's been an overall 25% increase in shootings city-wide this year compared to last year. Including the two shootings Tuesday night, there have been 183 shootings in Fresno so far this year, compared to 146 at this time last year.

There have been 40 shootings in the last 28 days, almost double the average during the same period in years past, according to Dyer. Eleven of those 40 shootings were black gang-related, another nine included Bulldog gang members.

"More gang members are running into each other out on the streets, and there's a potential for retaliation," Dyer said.

But Dyer says they'll make an impact the rest of this summer, through efforts like operation ceasefire and anti-gang rallies in Southwest and Southeast Fresno.

"We are trying to interrupt that cycle of violence through what we do, but we really need everyone to be a player in that, the churches, the parents, the schools, the community," said Dyer. "It really requires all of us to have a lasting impact on gang violence."

Aggravated assault, which includes shootings, is up 21% in the last month, and 5% in the last year.