Update: Man shot by Modesto police on Church of the Brethren grounds dies from wounds
A call for a security check near a west Modesto church resulted in an officer-involved shooting late Tuesday morning in which a man was struck and later died.
According to a post on the Modesto Police Department’s Facebook page, “At approximately 11:40 a.m. this morning, Modesto police officers responded to a security check call in the area of Woodland and Rosemore avenues, where a subject was reportedly in possession of a firearm.
“Responding officers located the subject in the area when they responded and an officer-involved shooting occurred.”
There was no initial information in the afternoon about the condition of the man who was shot. However, at about 5 p.m., the department put out an update that said the man died at a local hospital. His name was not released.
The scene was the Church of the Brethren, located on Woodland west of Rosemore. It was not immediately clear whether the initial call involved the church property. The Bee called the church office, but no one picked up.
Much of the church perimeter was taped off, and investigators were working primarily on the west side and rear of the property.
Modesto police spokeswoman Sharon Bear said officers conducted a security check of a nearby residence, but she could not say whether that was where the call originated.
Nothing has been released about the circumstances of the shooting, including whether gunfire was exchanged and whether the man shot had a gun or any other weapon.
It was the third fatal officer-involved shooting in Stanislaus County in 2020, and the second involving a Modesto officer.
On May 25, a man was fatally shot by two Modesto police officers near Orangeburg and Enslen avenues in central Modesto.
The Modesto man, Reymar Gagarin, 35, had told people he wanted to get into a high speed chase with police and use a fake gun to make officers shoot him, according to police.
Meanwhile, two Stanislaus County deputies shot and killed Eloy Mares Gonzalez Jr., 41, who had a hatchet and refused orders to surrender in the early morning hours of Sept. 27 in the Beard Industrial District.
It was the 40th homicide in Stanislaus County in 2020. In 2019, there were 32 homicides and four fatal officer-involved shootings.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 1:20 PM.
