Last year was a deadly one with 51 people murdered. A lot of the violence was gang related, but there were some bright spots. Car theft was actually down from last year.
Cops were called out to a shooting early Monday morning at Huntington Woods Apartments in Southeast Fresno. A man living across the street is everywhere in the city.
“I think Fresno, any part of Fresno is...you would never feel safe,” said neighbor, Xeng Lee.
A 51-Year-Old man was found shot by the pool area. Police caught up with the suspect down the road. The victim is in critical condition.
“It appears to be family, isolated to one family and at this time we're looking for a gun, we've not found it,” said Sgt. John Chandler.
Chief Dyer says although the total violent crime numbers are slightly down by nearly 1%, the number of domestic shootings like this are up and murders are way up year to year.
“The violent crime that has plagued us the most is that of homicide,” said Chief Dyer.
There were 16 more murders this year than in 2011, an increase of nearly 46%.
Much of the deadly violence is fueled by gangs.
“We have not seen in many years, if ever the number of murders that were committed by neighbors, family members, friends, coworkers,” said Dyer.
And while vehicle break-ins are up by a startling 31%, some good news, auto theft is down by more than 10%. Police are keeping watch for the repeat offenders in hot spots across the city.
“We remove those individuals from the streets, we're going to have a good chance of lowering crime rates in our community,” said Chief Dyer.
