Home invasion, two chases and shots fired: Wild Modesto incident ends in three arrests
.png)
A home invasion robbery, two car chases, gunshots fired from a fleeing vehicle and multiple crashes ended in the arrests of three people in Modesto on Friday.
The entire chaotic incident spanned about a mile and a half northeast of downtown and took place during a 30-minute time frame.
According to Modesto police officers’ investigation, it started around 1 p.m. when two men entered a home in the 600 block of Downey Avenue by shattering a glass door. Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Bear said the men confronted a resident inside, held him at gunpoint and demanded to know the location of a safe.
Bear said the victim told the men he didn’t know what they were talking about, so they hit him in the head with the butt of the gun and fled.
As this occurred, the victim’s roommate had just parked her vehicle outside and saw the suspects run from her home and get into the front and back passenger seats of a waiting blue Hyundai Sonata.
The roommate followed the vehicle as it fled east on Scenic Drive, pulled into the Save Mart parking lot at Oakdale Road and made a U-turn, Bear said.
As the Hyundai headed west on Scenic, the back-seat passenger turned around and fired a gun about five times in the direction of the roommate, Bear said.
She was not hit and backed off as the Hyundai turned northbound on Coffee Road.
From Coffee, the driver of the Hyundai turned onto Morris Avenue and struck a yellow car that was stopped at a stop sign.
Bear said the driver of that car turned around and followed the Hyundai as it fled the scene and weaved through a residential neighborhood northwest of Morris and Coffee. At one point, someone from inside the Hyundai turned around and fired multiple shots at the driver of the yellow car.
The driver, who was not hit by the gunfire, backed off and called police.
Bear said multiple people had called police at that point regarding the shots fired from the Hyundai, and more reports were coming in of a crash. Officers caught up to the Hyundai after it hit an iron gate in the 600 block of El Camino and finally crashed into a stop sign at Multnomah Drive and Cambridge Court.
The driver of the Hyundai and the back-seat passenger ran from the car, Bear said.
As officers were arriving at the scene, Yorell Fitch, 26, of Riverbank, called police from nearby and reported she was working as a DoorDash driver when her Hyundai was stolen. But witnesses later identified her as the woman driving the Hyundai during the shootings.
The front passenger, 22-year old Tyrice Zavian Johnson of Redwood city, was arrested at the scene, while the back-seat passenger, 25-year-old Dresean Darelle Smith of Stockton, was found over a mile away in the 500 block of East Orangeburg Avenue.
A firearm was found on the floorboard of the Hyundai. Bear said she believes a second firearm was used but it has not yet been recovered.
The suspects were arrested on suspicion of charges including attempted murder, home invasion robbery, assault with a firearm and conspiracy. They all remained in custody Tuesday but none had been formally charged.
Bear said the female roommate of the home invasion victim and Fitch are acquaintances. The specifics of the home invasion robbery remain under investigation, as there was no safe in the home.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 2:08 PM.
