FRESNO - On Sunday July 23rd, at 12:46 AM, the Fresno Police Department responded to the 2300 block of South Backer regarding a suspicious person in a grey Tahoe. A resident in the area reported that a vehicle was parked in the middle of the road and the male occupant was either drunk or high on drugs. The caller stated the male was talking but was not making much sense. A Fresno Police Officer arrived at 12:48 AM and found the vehicle partially in the street. The officer activated his overhead lights and the vehicle began to drive off with the officer following him. The vehicle accelerated and failed to yield. The driver refused to pull over and continued to drive on both city streets and freeways.
The Fresno Police Department’s Air 1 helicopter arrived overhead and started following the suspect vehicle. The patrol unit discontinued following the suspect and began monitoring from a distance. The Air 1 helicopter had its spotlight on the suspect vehicle as they followed it. The suspect drove through fields and back on to surface streets refusing to stop. The helicopter crew kept the ground unit updated on locations and speeds.
As the suspect was driving north on Clovis Ave from American, he began to drive in the southbound lanes. Fresno PD ground units again began to pursue the suspect at this time. As officers were attempting to get into position to possibly deploy spike strips, the suspect drove into the closed gates of the parking lot at Simonian Farms at Jensen and Clovis Ave. knocking the gates off their hinges. There was no exit from the parking lot. Fresno Police Officers positioned themselves to conduct a felony vehicle stop behind the suspect vehicle. The suspect immediately put his car into reverse driving towards the officers who had exited their cars. The suspect drove his car in reverse between the two closest marked police cars striking both of them and nearly hitting one of the Fresno Police Officers. The officer had to jump back into the police car to avoid being hit by the suspect vehicle.
Officers began firing their handguns at the suspect vehicle as he was reversing toward them. The suspect vehicle struck a third Fresno Police Officer’s car who had a civilian ride along in it. The suspect vehicle then stopped. The suspect was removed from the vehicle and taken into custody. The suspect was treated at the scene for three gunshot wounds and transported to Community Regional Medical Center. Three Fresno Police Officers fired their handguns at the suspect.
The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Homar Alonso Cardenas of Fresno. Cardenas remains at Community Regional Medical Center in stable condition. Detectives have learned that Cardenas was involved in similar incident on July 20th when Fresno Police responded to a traffic complaint at the 4600 block of East Belgravia. Cardenas again drove away from Fresno Police Officers who arrived on scene and they began to pursue him. Fresno Police stopped pursuing Cardenas after he ran stop signs and started driving recklessly.
Due to the shooting occurring at a property in the county’s jurisdiction, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office is handling the officer involved shooting investigation. FSO homicide detectives and members of the District Attorney’s OIS team responded to the scene to conduct the investigation. The Fresno Police Department is also conducting its own administrative investigation. The officers were placed on paid administrative leave which is standard for officer involved shootings. There were no officers seriously injured during the incident. The damaged police cars were towed from the scene.
The case was filed with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office which filed criminal charges against Cardenas. They filed four counts of Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a peace officer, one count of Assault with a Deadly Weapon related to the civilian ride along and one count of evading a peace officer.
Anyone with additional information on this case is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111.