Suspects shot by Clovis police after chase

11:05 a.m.: Two men were hospitalized after being shot by a Clovis police officer following a car chase this morning that began in Clovis and ended in southeast Fresno.

The officer fired during a confrontation with the men after the chase ended, a Fresno County Sheriff Department spokesman Chris Curtice said. The sheriff’s department is investigating the shooting because it happened in a county island.

Curtice would not provide details about the confrontation, the number of shots fired or the injuries to the two suspects, who were taken to Community Regional Medical Center.

Curtice said Clovis officers were called to a residence about 7:30 a.m. on a report that someone was brandishing a gun. When officers arrived, they saw the suspect’s vehicle leaving the residence. They tried unsuccessfully to pull it over, and the chase began.

The chase wound through Clovis and into southeast Fresno. The pursued car pulled over just after 8 a.m. at North Willow and East Thomas avenues, Curtice said, and the confrontation between the occupants and officer followed.

Curtice would not give the address of where the chase began, citing the investigation.

Willow Avenue between Belmont and Olive avenues is closed because of the Sheriff’s Department investigation.

8:42 a.m.:
A man was shot by Clovis police this morning following a car chase that began in Clovis and ended in east-central Fresno.

Initial reports said Clovis officers saw a man with a gun and that a chase ensued. The pursuit wound through Clovis streets and into Fresno, ending at Willow and Tyler avenues, where the suspect was shot about 8:15 a.m.

No other information was immediately available.

By Jim Guy / The Fresno Bee