Tower District Shooting Follows Mayor’s Safety Announcement by Five Days — 132 Incidents This Year
A shooting outside an Airbnb rental in Fresno’s Tower District on Sunday came five days after Mayor Jerry Dyer announced increased police patrols and brighter street lighting for the area. The incident left two businesses damaged and marked the 132nd shooting in Fresno this year — already exceeding last year’s total of 128 at this point.
The shooting happened at 2:24 a.m. near Fulton Street and Dennett Avenue. According to the Fresno Police Department, individuals denied entry to a studio being used to film a rap video left the location and fired multiple rounds, striking a business on Fulton Avenue. Surveillance video shows two groups arguing before one person opened fire, with at least 10 rounds fired and what appears to be an exchange of gunfire.
A nail studio owner arrived Sunday to find a bullet on the floor and a bullet hole in the wall. Another business had its window boarded up. No injuries were reported.
This is the second shooting in the Tower District in roughly a week. Around a week ago, nine gunshots were fired outside MIA Nightclub during a Halloween-themed “zombie crawl” bar event, severely wounding two people.
On October 21, Mayor Dyer announced new safety measures for the Tower District, stating, “We don’t want any violence… we’re all in this together, and we have zero tolerance for violence in the Tower.” The measures included increasing police patrols and installing brighter street lighting.
The Breakdown
- Mayor Dyer announced increased police patrols and brighter street lighting for the Tower District on October 21
- Five days later, on October 26 at 2:24 a.m., a shooting occurred near Fulton Street and Dennett Avenue after individuals were denied entry to an Airbnb rental being used to film a rap video
- At least 10 rounds were fired, damaging two businesses, with no injuries reported
- This marks the 132nd shooting incident in Fresno this year, compared to 128 at this time last year
- A second Tower District shooting occurred roughly a week ago outside MIA Nightclub, severely wounding two people
What This Means for You
The Mayor’s announced safety measures — increased patrols and brighter lighting — are a response you can evaluate against what’s actually happening in the Tower District. Two shootings in roughly a week, one of them five days after the announcement, raise questions about the implementation and effectiveness of these measures. Fresno has already exceeded last year’s shooting total at this point in the year.
What to Watch
The Mayor announced “increased police patrols” on October 21. The material does not state how many additional officers were deployed, what hours they’re covering, or whether those patrols were active in the area where Sunday’s shooting occurred five days later. That’s the first question worth asking — was the deployment real and measurable, or was it a press-event reassurance with no staffing commitment behind it?
The second question is the timeline on the brighter street lighting: was it installed before Sunday’s shooting? A safety measure announced to the public is only as valuable as its actual implementation timeline, not the announcement itself.
The third question is prior calls for service at the Airbnb location. The Police Department said its investigation will include looking into prior calls at that address — if there’s a history of disturbance calls or other incidents at that rental property, that’s a pattern worth knowing.
Finally, the year-over-year shooting figure — 132 incidents now versus 128 at this time last year — shows Fresno exceeding last year’s total at this point. Two Tower District shootings in a week, one of them days after a zero-tolerance announcement, provide a concrete timeline for evaluating the administration’s public safety approach.
