{"id":419190,"date":"2026-07-31T07:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/419190\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T07:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:41:21","slug":"video-shows-south-fresno-fatal-officer-involved-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/419190\/","title":{"rendered":"Video shows south Fresno fatal officer-involved shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Body-worn camera video released on Wednesday showed two Fresno police officers fire on an armed man, killing him in June after a family disturbance.<\/p>\n<p>Police said they were called to a home near 11th Street and Burns Avenue <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/article316024010.html\">about 11:30 a.m. June 5 after a woman<\/a> said her 42-year-old son was not welcome and would not leave, the video narration says. The south Fresno home near Cedar and Church avenues is just north of Calwa.<\/p>\n<p>The son was later identified as Ricardo Leon. He died at the scene after he was shot in a brief standoff with police.<\/p>\n<p>The mother said she had sought a restraining order against her son, but the paperwork was not complete, according to the audio from her 911 call that was included in the 13-minute, 54-second video released by police Wednesday. She can be <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4QJqO4BS-aY\">seen in the video<\/a> showing an officer the incomplete paperwork.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe doesn\u2019t live here. I don\u2019t want him here,\u201d she says to one of the officers.<\/p>\n<p>When the officers arrived, they found Leon in the backyard of the home while holding a silver handgun, police said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t come back here,\u201d Leon can be heard saying to the officers as they approached. \u201cStay back. I\u2019m telling you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Officers then began giving Leon orders to show his hands, video shows. He appeared to have one hand behind his back. Police said the officers negotiated with Leon for seven minutes before backing away.<\/p>\n<p>Leon can be heard saying he doesn\u2019t want to go to jail. Much of the conversation is difficult to hear because of the distance between Leon and the officers wearing the cameras, and at least one dog barks throughout the encounter.<\/p>\n<p>The video cuts and then picks back up about 15 minutes later after other officers have arrived on scene, according to the narration. Police said the video shows Leon raise the handgun in his right hand at officers before one fires.<\/p>\n<p>It is difficult to see in the video if Leon raises the handgun though he appears to be moving. The handgun is not clearly visible in any of the body-camera footage, but a still photo taken afterward shows a handgun.<\/p>\n<p>The officer wearing the camera appears to fire seven rounds, and police say in the video another officer fires from the other side of the house. Police also say Leon fired two rounds after he was shot by officers.<\/p>\n<p>The second officer who fired failed to turn on his body camera, police said in the video.<\/p>\n<p>Police said Leon had a Colt Mark IV .45-caliber handgun, which was recovered after officers shot him. Investigators said the gun was found to have two expended casings as well as a live round in the chamber and two more in the magazine, according to the video narration by Fresno Lt. Larry Bowlan.<\/p>\n<p>The officers identified in the video only as Officers #3 and #4 were placed on administrative leave following the fatal shooting, Bowlan confirmed, which is typical of an officer-involved shooting.<\/p>\n<p>The case will be investigated by the Fresno County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Fresno Internal Affairs and the Office of Independent Review, police said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>The Office of Independent Review has been <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/article316493249.html\">vacant for a year since<\/a> the last reviewer retired last August.<\/p>\n<p>                                          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FRS_EPZ_OIS_CEDAR_04.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"769\" title=\"FRS_EPZ_OIS_CEDAR_04.JPG\" alt=\"Fresno Chief of Police Mindy Casto, center, walks towards the media to offer an update of an officer involved shooting on Cedar Avenue south of Church Avenue Friday afternoon, June 5, 2026 in Fresno.\"\/>                                                                                    Fresno Chief of Police Mindy Casto, center, walks towards the media to offer an update of an officer involved shooting on Cedar Avenue south of Church Avenue Friday afternoon, June 5, 2026 in Fresno.                                                                                            ERIC PAUL ZAMORA                                                                            ezamora@fresnobee.com                                                                                                                                  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FRS_EPZ_OIS_CEDAR_02.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"732\" title=\"FRS_EPZ_OIS_CEDAR_02.JPG\" alt=\"Law enforcement are seen at the location of an officer involved shooting on Cedar and Eugenia avenues south of Church Avenue Friday afternoon, June 5, 2026 in Fresno.\"\/>                                                                                    Law enforcement are seen at the location of an officer involved shooting on Cedar and Eugenia avenues south of Church Avenue Friday afternoon, June 5, 2026 in Fresno.                                                                                            ERIC PAUL ZAMORA                                                                            ezamora@fresnobee.com<br \/>\n        Related Stories from  Fresno Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218116650\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785483681_452_Thaddeus Miller smaller.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Thaddeus Miller\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218116650\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thaddeus Miller<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Merced Sun-Star<\/p>\n<p>            Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Body-worn camera video released on Wednesday showed two Fresno police officers fire on an armed man, killing him&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-419190","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\/419190","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=419190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}