News

Detectives Investigate Huron Police Department’s Officer Involved Shooting

HURON - Shortly after 9:00 pm on Sunday, Huron Police officers responded to a call of suspicious activity at an apartment complex located on the northeast corner of S. Lassen and W. Tornado Avenues in Huron. Officers were given information that three armed men were at the property. Once officers contacted the group, something occurred which caused an officer to fire their gun. One suspect was struck, one suspect ran away and the third suspect was detained.

The 18 year old man who was shot was transported by helicopter to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno for treatment. He is listed in stable condition. The suspect immediately detained is a 14 year old boy. The third suspect who ran away, is a 16 year old boy. Deputies found him a short time later inside an apartment unit. All suspects have ties to a street gang.

Detectives Arrest Central Unified P.E. Teacher for Child Abuse

FRESNO - Fresno County Sheriff’s detectives have arrested 64 year old Peter Samhammer of Clovis. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail on four felony counts of child abuse. On Thursday afternoon, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received a report that students had suffered injuries during P.E. class at Herndon Barstow Elementary in Fresno.

Deputies responded to the school to investigate. Deputies learned that P.E. teacher, Peter Samhammer, had used a jump rope to discipline several children while holding class out on the playground. Samhammer placed the jump rope around their necks and tightened it briefly, before letting go. The rope left red marks on the kids’ neck and shoulder areas. The victims are in the 9 - 11 year old age range.

Detectives Searching for Killer of Los Angeles Man

COALINGA - Members of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit have identified the man who was the victim of a recent homicide. His is 32 year old Pedro Canisio Boc of Los Angeles. On September 14th, 2017, Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a call from a person who was driving along Highway 198 near Coalinga.

The caller said they pulled off the side of the road, got out of their vehicle and discovered a deceased person off the roadway, lying in the weeds. This was located in a remote area of Hwy. 198, which is near the Monterey County line. Boc had multiple gunshot wounds and it appears his death occurred several days before being discovered.

Toddler Death Ruled a Homicide; Suspect Arrested

FRESNO - On Thursday, members of the Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy on 23 month old Julius Lopez of Calwa. The manner of death was determined to be homicide and the cause of death was blunt force trauma. Wednesday night, homicide detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office arrested 24 year old Gage Hurtado. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail on a felony charge of assault by means to likely to cause death to a child. His bail is set at $500,000.

Around 9:30 am on Wednesday, Fresno Police received a 911 call from a man (Gage Hurtado) saying a child was injured inside an apartment located on the 2400 block of S. Ninth Street in Calwa. A Fresno Police officer arrived and found the boy, Julius Lopez, to be non-responsive. The officer gave the boy CPR and allowed EMS to take over medical aid once they arrived. Around 10:15 am, the boy was pronounced deceased.

Madera County Releases Annual Crop Report

MADERA – Madera County Department of Agriculture released its annual crop report last week during the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors. While the report showed a decrease overall, Madera County is ranked 10^th among the state’s 58 counties. The county’s agricultural commissioner, Stephanie McNeill, explained that the decrease is due to lower prices for some commodities as markets stabilize. The overall value of crops for 2016 was about $1.8 billion.

“We expect to see that go up,” McNeill said. “We’ve had a lot of new trees go in that are immature, that are nonproductive yet.” McNeill said last year she expected six to seven thousand more almonds, and it ended up being closer to 10 thousand. She added that people were pulling out grapes, such as the Thompson variety, and planting almonds.

Riot Breaks Out in Men’s Prison Near SLO: One Dead

San Luis Obispo – More than 160 inmates were involved in a large-scale riot in the East Facility medium-custody yard at California Men’s Colony (CMC) Sunday morning, that left one inmate dead and several others injured.

CMC staff responded immediately, utilizing force consisting of 40 mm less-than-lethal direct impact rounds and chemical agents to gain control of the incident. No deadly force was used, and no staff members were injured.

San Francisco and Oakland Sue Top Five Oil & Gas Companies Over Climate Change

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker announced today that they had filed separate lawsuits on behalf of their respective cities against the five largest investor-owned producers of fossil fuels in the world. The lawsuits ask the courts to hold these companies responsible for the costs of sea walls and other infrastructure necessary to protect San Francisco and Oakland from ongoing and future consequences of climate change and sea level rise caused by the companies' production of massive amounts of fossil fuels.

The defendant companies — Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell — have known for decades that fossil fuel-driven global warming and accelerated sea level rise posed a catastrophic risk to human beings and to public and private property, especially in coastal cities like San Francisco and Oakland, who have the largest shoreline investments on San Francisco Bay.