FRESNO (KMJ) — Fresno Police’s investigation into the Downtown Fresno shooting spree, which claimed three lives, is receiving help from the FBI.
But officers reveal that the weapon used by suspect Kori Ali Muhammad is yet to be found.
“We have not recovered the gun,” says Police Chief Jerry Dyer. “But the caliber of weapon is the same as what occurred at the Motel 6. It’s a .357 caliber. We have recovered speed loaders at the scene where he had emptied his shell casings on two different occasions and reloaded with those speed loaders – and dropped the speed loaders at that location.
“We also had recovered four speed loaders at the hotel on Thursday night, after he had fled.”
The events of Tuesday morning saw the deaths of three people in a short space of time in the Downtown Fresno area. The first shots rang out at around 10.45am, with each shooting occurring within a minute. The incident came after another fatal shooting at a Central Fresno Motel 6 Thursday evening.
“We do know that we have four males that are deceased, they are all white males. That includes three that were killed today, and the security guard that was killed Thursday night,” adds Chief Dyer during a press event Tuesday evening following the shooting earlier that day.
Terrorism has been ruled out for the moment, with detectives believing the motivation to be race.
“Based on the information that we have been provided and our investigation has shown, is that this is solely based on race.”
Chief Dyer adds that he cannot get into details of what exactly was said by the suspect.
“We believe it’s a hate crime – definitely a hate crime. But we don’t believe it was necessarily terrorist related, nor at this time do we believe that he was acting with anyone else.
“Although that can change as the investigation goes on, which is why we’ve asked the FBI to come out immediately and to partner with us.”
During the Tuesday evening announcement, officials stated that the 39 year old suspect’s charges include four counts of murder, and at least two additional counts of assault with a deadly weapon..
The District Attorney’s office has told KMJ News that they expect him to appear for an arraignment on Friday; you can read more about that court appearance clicking here.
