Authorities identify man shot to death in north Modesto

A 25-year-old man was killed in north Modesto early Tuesday while apparently walking home, police say.

About 12:30 a.m., a 911 call came in for medical aid for a person down in a roadway. A passer-by had found a man on the ground in the 600 block of East Union Avenue, said police Sgt. Jerry Ramar.

First responders arrived to find Andre Penn dead from several gunshot wounds, said Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves. He lived just a couple of blocks from where he was killed, she said.

About 12:15 a.m., police got a report of the sound of shots fired in the area of Claremont Avenue north of Sylvan, less than a mile away, Graves said. Officers responding to that report found nothing, she said, so it’s possible that caller had heard the shots fired on East Union.

Detectives believe Penn was near the Walmart shopping center on north McHenry Avenue a couple of hours prior to the shooting.

Though police say Penn’s shooting occurred after midnight, at least two households say they heard what sounded like a series of gunshots in the 10 o’clock hour.

Vickie Hair, who lives on Dix Lane, just around the corner from where Penn was killed, checked the text messages on her phone and said it was 10:40 when she messaged her daughter that she’d just heard shots. “I heard multiple boom, boom, boom, maybe seven shots,” Hair said. She and her boyfriend were watching TV in a room with a big window, she said, and they went into another room because the shots sounded so close.

Ralph and Cheryl Dreggs live in the house in front of which Penn’s body was found. They were watching the TV crime series “Castle,” which starts at 10, when they heard what sounded like about a half-dozen gunshots, the couple said. “It was very steady,” Cheryl Dreggs said.

Because the show was on, she said, “I wondered, ‘Did I really hear that?’ But our dog went to the door.”

The couple, who have lived in their home 37 years, said they’re used to hearing cars backfire, firecrackers and other noises coming from East Union, so they didn’t look outside or call police.

“It was very loud, but we didn’t do anything,” Cheryl Dreggs said. On the chance that someone was shooting out front, they also didn’t want to get shot at, the Dreggses said, though in hindsight, they said they wish they had called the police.

When officers did knock on their door about 1 or 1:15 a.m., Ralph Dreggs said, he and his wife were asleep. “It was very startling to see a body in our front yard,” he said.

A neighbor across the street from the Dreggs home said he did hear perhaps five shots fired after midnight. Elmer “Bud” Deadmond said he looked outside after hearing the shots, but didn’t see anything, so he went back in. Not long after, he said, police rang at his door.

This time, Deadmond opened his garage door, got on his motorized scooter and went into his driveway, where he then could see Penn’s body on the sidewalk in front of his neighbors’ mailbox.

Graves said she does not know what the neighbors might have heard in the 10 o’clock hour.

Detectives are seeking witnesses to the homicide. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Detective Mike Hicks at 209-342-6132 or Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and are eligible for a cash reward. Tipsters also can text information to Crime Stoppers at 274637; type “TIP704” along with the message.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 8:05 AM with the headline "Authorities identify man shot to death in north Modesto."