Fresno police have identified 21-year-old Joshua Lewis of Fresno as the suspect in Thursday night's carjacking and shooting spree that left two dead, including Lewis.
Police say Lewis was a Bulldog gang member.
The events of the night began around 5:20 p.m. Thursday, when police say Lewis ran a red light on Marks and Emerson avenues and crashed his car. Two of Luis' cousins who rode in the car with him were trapped and had to be removed with the jaws of life.
Lewis was able to get out of the car and carjacked a woman at gunpoint, according to police.
Lewis instructed her to drive to Shaw and Polk avenues in Northwest Fresno where Lewis got out and tried to enter a home, where police believe Lewis was staying.
The woman was able to drive away unharmed.
"Lewis walked out onto Shaw Avenue and began firing this handgun indiscriminately at vehicles as they were driving on Shaw," says Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.
In the process, police say Lewis fired at four vehicles and stuck three people, killing one.
The Fresno County Coroner's Office has identified the victim as 65-year-old Nhia Lee.
"What we have today is one deceased male, his wife who has been injured--shot in the arm. They've been married for 40 years. And we also have one male who was driving a van who is in critical condition and in the hospital today," Dyer says.
An off-duty corrections sergeant who was driving by witnessed the shootings.
He told police he saw Lewis fire at the hood of an SUV. The 19-year-old driver got out and shouted at Lewis that his 5-year-old brother was in the vehicle.
Police say when the two got out and ran away, Lewis raised his gun, and his .44 caliber revolver dry fired.
"At that time, the sergeant fired one round striking Lewis in the back," Dyer says.
After being shot, Lewis got into the SUV. The sergeant confronted him and ordered him to get out. Police say Lewis got out but then ran back into the SUV and reached down to the floorboard.
The sergeant fired two more times, striking Lewis in the lower neck area.
While Lewis was able to drive away, he crashed eight miles later in a ditch at Jameson and Gettysburg avenues. He walked out but died from his gunshot wounds, police say.
"These situations in any city are extremely rare," Dyer says. "It's seldom that you have a person who does what he did to go out there and shoot indiscriminately at passing motorists. We'll never know why he did it."
Police say a toxicology test is being performed. The results can take two months to be complete.