{"id":374631,"date":"2026-06-25T17:01:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/374631\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T17:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:01:25","slug":"fresno-gunpoint-confrontation-leads-to-dui-arrest-child-endangerment-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/374631\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Gunpoint Confrontation Leads to DUI Arrest, Child Endangerment Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 37-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday after allegedly brandishing a handgun at a victim outside an AMPM in north Fresno and later being found driving under the influence with a child in the vehicle, the Fresno Police Department told GV Wire.<\/p>\n

Officers were dispatched around 12:06 a.m. to the 6000 block of North Blackstone Avenue for a report of a firearm being brandished.<\/p>\n

Police said a victim reported that a man approached him, engaged in small talk, then pulled out a handgun and ordered him to walk over. The victim ran to a parked car in an attempt to escape, but the suspect followed and continued to threaten him with the firearm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The victim ran across Bullard Avenue to a car lot, called 911, and contacted a security guard to report the incident. He later returned to the AMPM and provided a statement to officers.<\/p>\n

While officers were taking the report, the suspect returned to the parking lot in a vehicle. The victim identified the vehicle, and police said the suspect left the area heading northbound on Blackstone Avenue after noticing officers.<\/p>\n

Officers later located the vehicle at Sierra and Blackstone avenues and detained the occupants. As officers opened a door, they observed what appeared to be a handgun barrel protruding from a black backpack on the front passenger floorboard.<\/p>\n

Victim Positively Identifies Suspect<\/p>\n

Police identified the driver as Lane Kelly Whittenberg, 37, and the victim positively identified him as the suspect in the earlier confrontation.<\/p>\n

Officers also found an open container of alcohol in the vehicle. A DUI investigation was conducted and police determined Whittenberg was driving under the influence. Records checks showed he also had a prior felony conviction.<\/p>\n

Whittenberg was arrested on multiple charges, including weapons-related offenses, ammunition possession by a prohibited person, criminal threats, and child endangerment, after a 3-year-old child was found to be a passenger in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

He was booked into the Fresno County Jail. A hold was placed on the child, and a female passenger was cited for child endangerment and released at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Connect with\u00a0\u00a0on social media. Got a tip? Send an\u00a0.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 37-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday after allegedly brandishing a handgun at a victim outside an AMPM…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-374631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}