A Fresno barber testified Monday that she was cutting her client’s hair when he suddenly pulled a weapon from underneath his barber’s cape and fired at a rival gang member sitting in the chair next to him.
Except the shooter, 18-year-old Kobe Chantharangsy, didn’t hit just his target. He also struck and killed 44-year-old Jampier Quintero, who was waiting inside the Los Viejones Barbershop at Belmont and Van Ness avenues with two of his children and two friends, prosecutors say.
Jampier Quintero, 44, was identified by police as the man killed in a barbershop shooting on Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Fresno. FRESNO POLICE DEPARTMENT
They were getting haircuts the day before Easter.
Chantharangsy is charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder. His preliminary hearing began Monday and continues Tuesday in Department 60.
Witnesses said Chantharangsy was getting his haircut that day when he noticed a rival gang member sitting just one booth away.
“He said he had had an altercation with that guy,” testified Dalia Duenas, the barber cutting Chantharangsy’s hair. “I told him not to do anything in my workplace.”
Duenas said Chantharangsy then whispered to a friend who had driven him to the barber shop that the guy was from the rival Lewis Street gang. He also may have had something to do with the death of Chantharangsy’s cousin, she said.
The tension in the busy barbershop began to rise after Duenas said she saw the other customer start texting on his phone. Within a few minutes, two men in their 20s, whom she did not recognize, came into the shop and went straight to the defendant.
Holding their waistbands with one hand, the men asked Chantharangsy something to the effect of, “Where you from, cuz?” she recalled.
Defense attorney Jane Boulger asked Duenas if she knew why the two men were holding their waistbands and asking the defendant where he was from.
“When they hold their waistbands, it means ‘I have a gun,’ and when they asked him where he was from, they already knew,” Duenas said.
She said she felt her client shake and then chaos ensued.
Duenas testified that while she did not see her client holding a gun, he must have pulled the trigger from under his cape, shooting at the rival gang member sitting next to him.
She ran to a back room after hearing the gunfire and peeked into the shop after it stopped.
The barbershop was empty and there was blood all over the floor.
She saw Quintero laying on the ground, bleeding profusely. She and another customer tried to put pressure on the wound.
Duenas also testified that she remembers that one of the two strangers who came into the barbershop prior to the shooting fired back into the shop as he fled.
Prosecutor Ismail Aliyev asked Duenas why didn’t she mention that in her previous interviews with detectives. She said she was in shock and didn’t remember everything until later.
“I was traumatized, I have never seen anyone die in front of me,” she said.
This story was originally published September 22, 2026 at 7:42 AM.
The Fresno Bee
A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.