Police say fatal Thursday shooting started in west Modesto. Neighbors give details
Police confirmed a deadly Thursday night shooting happened in a neighborhood about 3 miles southwest of where one of three men died after the victims drove off from the initial scene.
Police responded to McHenry and Briggsmore Avenues after a man called 911 and said their vehicle had been shot at while they were driving. Responding officers located the men in the area. One of them died on scene and two were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Sgt. Kalani Souza confirmed to The Modesto Bee on Thursday afternoon that the shooting started in the area of Boone Way and Moccasin Drive, west of downtown.
The call from the victims was made in the area of Briggsmore and Tully Road, but Souza said detectives are “still investigating if the victims were followed and shot at, and how they ended up” there.
Neighbors in the area of Boone and Moccasin told The Bee the shooting woke them up, set off car alarms and brought many of them outside of their houses to see what was going on.
One resident told The Bee she heard six to eight gunshots right at 11 p.m. She said the shots were “loud and clear” and woke her up despite the television being on.
Boone Way resident Jose Palato said he and other family members were watching the news around 11 p.m. Thursday when they heard 10 to 12 gunshots in rapid succession.
Palato said the gunfire set off the alarms of the cars parked in driveways and along the street. He said he and other neighbors went outside to investigate after the gunfire and the street was empty.
A man who lives on Moccasin Drive said what he heard sounded like fireworks and didn’t think much of it until a neighbor contacted him and his wife and said it had been gunfire.
The man, who declined to give his name, said police closed about a 200-foot stretch of his street for several hours as they searched the street, sidewalks and front yards for evidence.
Souza said the victims and suspects appear to have known each other based on the initial investigation, and there is no ongoing safety threat to the community.
Souza did not disclose a possible motive and said he could not comment on radio traffic that indicated the incident was drug related.
No arrests had been made as of Friday afternoon.
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 3:18 PM.
