Several dead as gunman opens fire at California backyard party

FRESNO - Police in the California city of Fresno were investigating a mass shooting at a football game party on Sunday in which at least nine people were shot, killing several, with others left in critical condition, a police spokesman said.

A gunman started shooting after entering the backyard of a south Fresno home where a gathering of family and friends was watching a football game after 6 p.m., police said, and neighbors flooded 911 dispatchers with calls for help.

The suspect fled the scene and police were combing the neighborhood for witnesses and possible security camera footage.

Police did not release the number of dead at a news conference late on Sunday, but said there were multiple deaths among the nine known to have been shot in the city, about 200 miles (322 km) north of Los Angeles.

Others at the party may have driven themselves to hospital, police said, adding that some victims were taken to a nearby community medical center with gunshot wounds.

A police spokesman was not immediately available to Reuters for further comment. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gunman targeting white men kills three in Fresno, California

A gunman who went by the nickname Black Jesus killed three white men in downtown Fresno, California, on Tuesday, and fired at another before he was taken into custody while shouting "Allahu Akhbar," police said.

The suspect, 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, was also wanted in connection with the fatal shooting last week of an unarmed security guard at a Motel 6 in Fresno, Police Chief Jerry Dyer told reporters at a press conference.

Dyer said Muhammad fired at least 16 rounds from a large-caliber handgun in less than a minute at four downtown Fresno locations at about 10:45 a.m. local time before he was spotted running through the streets by a police officer.

"Immediately upon the individual seeing the officer he literally dove onto the ground and was taken into custody and as he was taken into custody he yelled out 'Allahu Akhbar,'" Dyer said. The term means "God is great" in Arabic.

"He does not like white people," Dyer said, citing the suspect's statements after being arrested and his Facebook postings. The chief said Muhammad, who is African American, used the nickname Black Jesus.

All four of the men killed on Tuesday were white, as was the security guard and the other man Mohammad shot at but missed.

Dyer said it was too early to rule out terrorism and that his department had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate, but portrayed the incident as "a random act of violence."

"These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got," he said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual who was intent on carrying out homicides today, and he did that."

Dyer said Muhammad had been identified quickly as the prime suspect in the Motel 6 shooting on April 13 and that police had been urgently seeking him across the Fresno area since then.

Fresno is an agricultural hub in California's central valley, about 170 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Muhammad has a criminal history that includes weapons and drug charges and had spent time in state prison, Dyer said.

County government buildings were placed on lockdown during the shooting spree and residents were urged to shelter in place.

Local television images showed what appeared to be a body covered in a yellow tarp in a street near where police tape marked off several crime scenes.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Steve Gorman; Editing by Richard Chang)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Waiter turns over USD32,000 in cash left at Applebee's in California

LOS ANGELES - An Applebee's waiter in central California turned over $32,000 in cash that a family forgot at a table, an amount that exceeds his annual salary after taxes, because it was the right thing to do, the waiter told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Friday.

Brian Geery, 33, said he found a canvas pouch at a table in the restaurant where he works in Fresno after a family finished eating, and noticed a rectangular shape inside.

He showed the pouch to his manager, who suggested it might contain medicine, and at his boss's suggestion Geery opened the pouch to check.

The rectangular shape was a stack of bills.

"I couldn't believe it, I'd never seen so much cash in my life before," Geery said.

Carrie Hellyer, Applebee's regional director, said Geery declined a reward from the family, and initially withheld his name from media outlets wishing to cover the story.

"He just said that he did it because it was the right thing to do and he didn't want the right thing being overwhelmed by anything else," Hellyer said.

Geery, a 10-year Applebee's veteran who said the money exceeded his annual income after taxes, gave the pouch to his manager and went back to waiting tables.

"I'm a big believer in karma," he said. "I just feel like you treat others as you would want to be treated."

The cash was picked up by police later in the day, said Fresno police spokesman Lieutenant Joe Gomez.

When the family called police on Thursday to report the loss, arrangements were made for them to pick it up at the station, Gomez said.

Underscoring the waiter's honesty, Hellyer said there was no surveillance camera in the area where the family left their money.

Gomez said the money was returned to the family only after a detective determined it was obtained legally. The cash came from rental properties and a Mexican restaurant the family operates in San Jose, he said.

"You know how some people don't use banks, I think they're that type of person," he said.

The family had attempted to rent a safe deposit box at a bank on Wednesday, but one was not immediately available, he added. As a result, he said, they had the cash with them at Applebee's when they went there to eat and simply forgot it.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com