A fight between a parole officer and an unarmed parolee during a home inspection on Christmas Eve resulted in officer-involved shooting and the death of a 26-year-old parolee, authorities said.
The California Department of Justice is currently investigating the shooting as part of a state law that requires the agency to investigate fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians.
Fresno Police Department officers said they were dispatched to the 1200 block of Cortland Avenue around 12:30 p.m. after the department’s gunshot detection program detected three shots fired in the area. Diana Trueba Vega.
A parole officer from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Adult Parole Services Division was making a home visit when a fistfight broke out with a parolee, CDCR spokesman Pedro Calderon Michel said.
Michelle identified the parolee as 26-year-old Jeremy Sanchez.
“The confrontation escalated and the deputy fired his service weapon, striking Sanchez,” Michel said in an email. “Despite investigators’ efforts to administer life-saving measures, Sanchez died at the scene.”
Michelle declined to identify the parole officer.
Statements from the CDCR and Fresno Police Department did not say what sparked the altercation or whether Sanchez had a weapon during the altercation, but the California Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Assembly Bill 1506 The shooting incident is being investigated based on this.
Vega said the California Department of Justice is currently leading the investigation.
“Upon notification from local authorities, the Department of Justice’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team began an investigation as mandated by AB 1506,” the state Department of Justice said in a statement. “Once the investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the Special Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Law Division for independent review.”
