City leaders are ramping up public safety measures in Fresno’s Tower district after a double shooting over the weekend, following an uptick in violent crime in the nightlife corridor, has the neighborhood on edge.
Fresno Police arrested a 16-year-old male from Fowler in connection with a shooting outside the nightclub MIA on Olive Avenue just after midnight early Sunday morning, Chief Mindy Casto announced at a press conference Monday.
The incident, caught on video and circulating on social media, shows a verbal disagreement unfold on the busy sidewalk before the shooter pulls out a firearm and fires multiple rounds. Two young men were shot with multiple bullets, including an innocent bystander, and a woman was injured in the chaotic scene that followed, according to Fresno PD.
A shooting erupted outside MIA nightclub in the Fresno’s Tower District on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. ANTHONY GALAVIZ agalaviz@fresnobee.com
Both victims are expected to survive, and the teen suspect, who has been booked into the juvenile justice center, will be charged with attempted murder at a minimum, Casto said.
“When you get large numbers of people mixed with alcohol in a congregated area, and some of those people have prior feuds, it is a recipe for having violence, and that’s what we saw this Saturday, and we’ve seen it here recently,” Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said. “So we’re going to do our part to make sure that that violence stops, and I mean that from a zero-tolerance approach.”
Sunday’s incident marks the fourth shooting in the Tower District since May.
The police department has beefed up its presence on weekends over the past two years, with 30 to 40 officers patrolling on weekends. That has led to a 940% increase in spending for a typical weekend night, The Bee previously reported.
New public safety measures in Tower District launching this Thursday
Casto, Dyer and Fresno Councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Miguel Arias announced at the press conference new Tower District public safety measures they said they intend to launch by this Thursday.
First, the group plans to bring forward a resolution at this week’s council meeting to move street food vendors off the sidewalks and create a designated area for them to operate. If approved, vendors would only be allowed to do business in a parking area near Olive and Van Ness from around 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. The area would be equipped with lighting, a security camera, and security officers.
Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto, Mayor Jerry Dyer and Fresno Councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Miguel Arias announced new public safety measures they intend to implement in the Tower District by this Thursday at a press conference Monday. LILIANA FANNIN
Arias argued that especially late at night, vendors on top of bar patios and crowds can leave little room to pass, and make conflicts more likely.
“Our challenge has been to address the root cause, and crowd management is part of the biggest problem in the Tower District, especially as they continue after the bars close, and people have are just lingering around and loitering around,” said Arias, who’s district covers a portion of the district. “So part of the strategy is going to get people to move along.”
It’s expected that the area will accommodate all the vendors who currently do business there, provided they follow the rules and have proper permits, Arias said.
The designated area for vendors will also be one of four locations equipped with new mobile lighting equipment with security cameras that will monitor the area from a remote site. The others will be located in front of the popular clubs Vibes and MIA, in the Tower Parking Lot and at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater.
“We know that the more light that we can provide, the safer people feel, and the safer people will be,” Dyer said.
The police department plans to designate at least two officers to be posted at the front of each of the clubs MIA, Vibes and Bobby Salazar’s Taqueria every Thursday through Sunday, from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Dyer said that as of Monday, the department has contracts in place so that those businesses will be the ones providing the funding for the additional officers, and expressed interest in doing so.
The city also plans to paint the curbs on Olive Avenue, from Palm to Van Ness, white, which designates it as passenger loading or unloading only area, impacting about 18 parking spots.
City leaders plan to host a community meeting this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Tower Theatre to hear from residents and business owners and spread awareness about the proposed solutions.
“We’ll listen to any concerns that people might have with the changes that we are making, whether it’s the lighting, the cameras, or the painting of the curves white, whatever it is, but what we do know is the status quo is unacceptable,” Dyer said. “The level of violence is unacceptable.”
A shooting took place outside of Club Mia in Fresno’s Tower District on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. ANTHONY GALAVIZ agalaviz@fresnobee.com
This story was originally published October 19, 2026 at 5:14 PM.
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