2 people killed, 3 injured in shooting at central Fresno 'dope house'
Fresno PD say evidence collected so far points to a robbery during a drug deal and it's likely more than one person fired a gun.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno police detectives are piecing together a deadly shooting from Friday morning, but they say what they've found so far makes the violence less surprising.
Gunshots rang out near Belmont and Blackstone just before 5:30 a.m.
Two still-unidentified men died in the gunfire, and two women and a man suffered injuries.
Both police and neighbors told us the house where it happened is a magnet for trouble.
By the time officers arrived, the trouble had spilled outside.
"They encountered multiple individuals who were suffering from gunshot wounds," said Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama.
Two of the gunshot victims couldn't be saved. Three went to the hospital for treatment.
Investigators spent hours collecting evidence from the home, but neighbors told us they had a good idea why something bad would happen there.
We're not showing their faces because they feared for their families' safety.
"That house is a dope house," one neighbor told Action News. "Every single day there's traffic, hookers, you know?"
"We did find a significant amount of drugs inside the house," said Chief Balderrama. "So all of this leads us to believe this was not a random shooting. This was not a random act of violence. This was very much intentional and the individuals involved knew each other."
Chief Balderrama says officers detained a few people, some of whom carried guns. They also found firearms inside the home.
He says evidence collected so far points to a robbery during a drug deal and it's likely more than one person fired a gun.
The chief says at least one of the shooting victims was part of the robbery crew.
"This is obvious risky behavior and this is what happens when you're involved with guns, when you're involved with gangs, when you're involved with drugs," he said.
Police haven't definitively linked the shooting to gangs at this point.
The two homicides bring Fresno's total for the year up to 40, about 23% less than the 52 there were last year by this date.
