Two Madera men are behind bars, accused of firing forty rounds at a Madera Sheriff's deputy.
This is the third officer involved shooting in the valley in 24 hours.
The shooting happened around four Tuesday morning.
The deputy was trying to stop a truck near Fairmead Boulevard and Avenue 22.
The suspects sped off and shot at the deputy.
"And on four different occasions through the probably two or three mile chase they fired on four different occasions," Madera Sheriff John Anderson said of the suspects.
Anderson says the shots were fired from the back window of the truck. Some of the gunfire ricocheted off a cover on the bed of the pickup. Investigators believe at least forty rounds were fired.
"The interior of the truck was just littered with shell casings, of two different calibers that I could see just glancing in there," Anderson said.
The truck turned into an orchard and crashed into a tree. The two men inside ran off.
The deputy wasn't injured.
Within hours, detectives tracked the suspects, 24-year-old Abel Ramos and 27-year-old Mario Valdez to the Days Inn on Highway 99 and Avenue 16. Both men have extensive criminal histories.
The violent encounter follows two officer involved shootings Monday. One in Selma left a suspect wounded after he pointed a shotgun at a Fresno Sheriff's deputy.
And Monday night, known gang members fired at the personal car of an off-duty Fresno police officer, mistaking him for another gang member. The officer returned fire injuring two of the suspects.
"That vehicle was struck five times on the passenger side. Two of those rounds struck just below the handle of the door. A couple of inches higher, there's no doubt that those rounds would've struck our officer and perhaps killed him," said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.
This is the third officer involved shooting in the valley in 24 hours.
The shooting happened around four Tuesday morning.
The deputy was trying to stop a truck near Fairmead Boulevard and Avenue 22.
The suspects sped off and shot at the deputy.
"And on four different occasions through the probably two or three mile chase they fired on four different occasions," Madera Sheriff John Anderson said of the suspects.
Anderson says the shots were fired from the back window of the truck. Some of the gunfire ricocheted off a cover on the bed of the pickup. Investigators believe at least forty rounds were fired.
"The interior of the truck was just littered with shell casings, of two different calibers that I could see just glancing in there," Anderson said.
The truck turned into an orchard and crashed into a tree. The two men inside ran off.
The deputy wasn't injured.
Within hours, detectives tracked the suspects, 24-year-old Abel Ramos and 27-year-old Mario Valdez to the Days Inn on Highway 99 and Avenue 16. Both men have extensive criminal histories.
The violent encounter follows two officer involved shootings Monday. One in Selma left a suspect wounded after he pointed a shotgun at a Fresno Sheriff's deputy.
And Monday night, known gang members fired at the personal car of an off-duty Fresno police officer, mistaking him for another gang member. The officer returned fire injuring two of the suspects.
"That vehicle was struck five times on the passenger side. Two of those rounds struck just below the handle of the door. A couple of inches higher, there's no doubt that those rounds would've struck our officer and perhaps killed him," said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.