2nd teenage boy gunned down in Fresno County in less than a week
Friends said the boy was a rising junior at Reedley High School. They said he was funny and smart.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- UPDATE:
Authorities have identified the victim as 15-year-old Alan Herrera.
The original story follows below.
For the second time in less than a week, someone gunned down a 15-year-old boy in eastern Fresno County - first in Parlier and now in Reedley.
Sunday night had just grown dark when Reedley police got the first 911 call.
"Officers responded and found a 15-year-old male suffering from gunshot wounds," said Sgt. Gary Kincaid, who heads up investigations for the Reedley Police Department.
Paramedics rushed the victim to a nearby hospital, but doctors couldn't save him.
People in the neighborhood didn't want to get involved, but some of them told us they heard the gunfire and mistook it for fireworks until they heard the ambulance.
Police say the victim was riding a bicycle and the shooter was either walking or in a car, but they also struggled to get neighbors to describe what happened.
"Right now we have very limited details," Sgt. Kincaid said. "We're currently still investigating. We have our entire investigations team here."
By daylight, a memorial of candles grew in the spot where the teenager died.
Friends said their goodbyes privately or with fresh graffiti.
They didn't want to talk on camera, but they told us the boy was a rising junior at Reedley High School.
They said he was funny and smart.
Police say they're looking into whether the killing was gang-related or even connected to the murder of a 15-year-old in nearby Parlier last week.
RELATED: 15-year-old high school student shot and killed in Parlier
Reedley already planned to have extra officers on patrol for the holiday, but now they'll pay special attention to the area in case retaliation is coming.
And they're hoping for witnesses to come forward, even if they don't think what they saw was important.
"Anything that you may have thought was out of the ordinary, if you saw someone walking around that time," Sgt. Kincaid said. "Anything that pops into someone's mind that thinks 'Well, that's probably not a big deal,' call us anyway because all the little details can add up into something."
The city of Reedley had three homicides in 2021. This is their first of 2022.
