Shooting leaves man dead in Lindsay, suspect at-large

LINDSAY — A young man was shot and killed in the backyard of a home early this afternoon, prompting a police sweep of the surrounding area.

This is the third homicide of the year in Lindsay. The suspect remains at-large.

Police were dispatched at 2:14 p.m. to 686 N. Homassel Ave. to investigate a call of a man with a gun.

“When we got here we found a Hispanic male adult, deceased in the backyard,” Lindsay Department of Public Safety Sgt. Chris Hughes said late this afternoon from the scene. “He was shot.”

The victim was in his early 20s, police said, and was shot multiple times. His name is being withheld pending notification of his family.

The suspect is described as a male, as young as 18 but possibly in his 20s, 5 feet 7 inches tall and was last seen wearing a white shirt and dark-colored pants.

A quiet neighborhood
The shooting brought investigators from a number of allied law enforcement agencies to the area of North Homassel Avenue and East Tulare Road.

A motive has not been determined, Sgt. Mike Marquez of the Farmersville Police Department said. He said it’s too soon to say if gang activity is linked to the shooting.

Marquez said he believes the neighborhood is generally a quiet one, an assessment borne out by area residents.

One man, who declined to give his name out of fear for his family, said he’s lived on Homassel for 15 years and has, until today, never seen anything like this in the area.

Ismael Arreaga, who lives near the site of the shooting on Homassel, said he was turned away earlier in the afternoon from the Tulare Road side of Homassel.

“I was coming back from my work and I was trying to get in here,” he said. “I was told someone was shot. That’s what they say: Someone was shot. Someone was killed.”

“I would like to know what is happening in my neighborhood,” he said.

Homassel was blocked to traffic for more than five hours from Tulare Road south to Second Street.

Extended crime scene
A second neighborhood, one block south of the site of the shooting, was also blocked off as officers sought clues as to what happened after the killing occurred.

Warmer Court from Second Street to Hermosa Street — across the street from the back side of Washington Elementary School — was blocked as officers questioned possible witnesses and searched for evidence.

Marquez said witness statements and further investigation produced “items” which were found on Warmer Court that may be helpful to the case. He did not describe what was found.

“It’s another scene that could be related,” he said. “We’re still working those investigative leads.”

Officers from the Lindsay, Exeter, Farmersville and Woodlake police departments, deputies from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, personnel from the Sheriff’s Department’s crime lab and gang unit, an attorney with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office and at least one California Highway Patrol officer joined forces for the afternoon to investigate the shooting.

Hughes said gang unit officers were patrolling near Lindsay when the shooting was reported.

“They were in the area and offered bodies to help,” he said.

Marquez said about 15 officers, seven from the Joint Cities Task Force, worked to quickly secure the area, keep all the witnesses together, gather evidence and “protect the integrity of the crime scene.”

He said he’s somewhat surprised the attack occurred in broad daylight.

“Criminals tend to do their crimes under the cover of darkness,” he said.

Recent killings
Lindsay’s first homicide of the year — a shooting — occurred in late April. Marquez said the suspect still at-large. The city’s second homicide was a hit-and-run traffic accident on June 4 that left one person dead at Hermosa Street and Highway 65. The suspect in that case fled the scene, Marquez said, elevating the case to a homicide. He said the suspect is in custody.

Two other homicides occurred in recent months just outside the city. The bodies of both victims were found — one in early April and one on June 11 — in orchards in the county. Those cases are being handled by the Sheriff’s Department.

Marquez said there’s no evidence linking any of the Lindsay-area homicides. However he did not rule out a connection or the possibility that gang activity is linked to today's killing.

“We are looking into any and all possible motives,” he said.

-- Contact Glen Faison at 784-5000, Ext. 1040, or gfaison@portervillerecorder.com.