FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Fresno Police say a boy is in custody after they say he shot a 15-year-old multiple times near Greenberg Elementary School on East Lane Avenue.
The mother of the alleged shooter, who says he is just 12 years old, told us she never could have imagined her son would be involved in a shooting investigation at such a young age.
“I’m disappointed in him because I’ve had a lot of talks with my son, and to know that you were a part of this just lets me know everything I said went in one ear and out the other. And you honestly made a choice you cannot come back from,” said Chanelle Snowden, the suspect’s mother.
The Fresno Police Department says it all started around 7:45 a.m. Thursday, when they received a ShotSpotter activation reporting 11 shots were fired in the 5100 block of East Lane Avenue.
It happened to fall right next door to Greenberg Elementary, which was placed on lockdown.
They say immediately after the shooting, the suspect, whose mother said is a sixth grader at Greenberg, fled heading right towards the school.
That’s when police say a teacher spotted him jumping over a fence, bringing a gun onto school grounds.
“Immediately told the principal what she had seen. And then the principal immediately detained the juvenile before he made it any further onto the school campus,” said Sgt. Diana Trueba Vega with the Fresno Police Department.
When officers arrived, they took the alleged shooter into custody and found a 15-year-old boy shot multiple times in his left leg and on the left side of his body at the apartment complex.
They say he is in stable condition at a local hospital.
“We will determine how he obtained the gun, where he obtained it from, and also try to identify the motive of the shooting,” said Sgt. Trueba Vega. “At this point, it’s too early to tell any motive or what happened but we do believe it was a targeted incident,” she said.
The suspect’s mother says the entire incident was heartbreaking.
“I’m scared. I haven’t been able to talk to him. I saw him in the back of the police car, but they wouldn’t allow me to talk to him because he was under arrest. I wanted to be there because he’s 12 and he’s never been in trouble with the law before,” said Snowden.
Sgt. Trueba Vega says they’re just relieved the principal and school staff sprung into action before things got worse.
“We are definitely very very fortunate that nobody else was injured. We are very thankful again for the quick actions of the principal and the teacher,” she said. “Not only are they here obviously to teach our students, but to keep them safe as well.”
