California Church Shooting: 2 Dead, 1 Injured in Fresno

(Prath/shutterstock)

A shooting was reported outside St. Alphonsus Church in southwestern Fresno, California, on Sunday, local media reported.

A suspect, 64-year-old Manuel Garcia, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after opening fire on his wife, 61-year-old Martha Garcia, and her 51-year-old boyfriend, ABC30 reported. His wife was killed, and the boyfriend was injured and taken to the hospital.

Martha Garcia and her boyfriend were attending church and Manuel Garcia waited for the service to end before he opened fire, officials told ABC30.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the boyfriend is listed in critical condition and likely won’t survive.

Witnesses said they heard about five shots. Then people called 911, the reports stated.

Father Dominic Rajappa confirmed to the Fresno Bee that a morning mass ended when gunfire rang out. He said he doesn’t believe many people saw the shooting, but those that did, “were really scared,” according to the Fresno Bee.

In the incident, the shooter emerged from a vehicle and fired at the two, who were inside a blue Toyota, at the church’s parking lot on Kearney Boulevard, the  Bee reported.

Dyer told ABC30 that after the shooting, a woman called the Fresno Police Department and told officials she got text messages from her dad. The messages said that the man said he had just shot her mother in a church parking lot and he went home to wait for police.

The SWAT team then entered the home, they discovered Garcia dead of a gunshot wound, likely self-inflicted. The Garcias had been married for 43 years and lived together, but she was filing for a divorce. The couple has no history of domestic violence, officials said.

It does not appear to be related to a mass shooting inside a church in a rural Texas town near San Antonio that left more than 27 people dead and more injured on Sunday.