FRESNO (KMJ) — A man has died after allegedly answering the door to Deputies while holding a hand-gun and a machete – and then refusing to back down.
The initial call came in at 4.34am Monday morning, when a man made a 911 call reporting around 10 unknown people inside his home. Fresno County Sheriff’s Office responded to that home, on the intersection of Terrace and Bond, and the door was answered by Refugio Alvarez.
“The suspect was the reporting party on the 911 call,” explains the office’s Tony Botti. “Once deputies arrived they immediately made contact with that suspect, he answered the door to them when they knocked on the door.”
When he opened the door, they described the suspect holding two weapons.
“A handgun and a machete at the time that he confronted the deputies. Deputies immediately gave verbal commands for him to put down his weapons. He did not comply with their orders, though.
“A deputy fired their Taser at the suspect. It struck him, but it proved to be ineffective. He continued at the deputies while holding the machete and that caused our deputies, multiple deputies, to fire rounds from their duty guns striking the suspect.”
The suspect was taken to the hospital, and later pronounced dead.
“Nobody else is being detained, this was limited to the suspect himself.”
There were also two other adults inside the house at the time, as well as three children under the age of 10.
“I’m told that the small children were not the offspring of the suspect,” adds Botti.
The deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave. Investigators are now establishing the course of events which led to the incident taking place.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
