Deputy kills suicidal man after standoff in Selma

SELMA — A Fresno County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man said to be suicidal Thursday night, ending a more than three-hour standoff at a trailer home in Selma.

Around 3:45 p.m. Thursday, the sheriff’s department received a call about a civil disturbance between a landlord and his tenant. According to sheriff’s spokesperson Chris Curtis, the tenant had been evicted from a trailer on the property and came back brandishing a baseball bat. The tenant started making threats and began breaking items of property out in yard, Curtis said.

The landlord called the sheriff’s department, but the suspect fled before deputies arrived. The deputies found the suspect in a trailer and “heard what they thought was a gunshot,” according to Curtis.

The department’s SWAT team was called in to the property around the area of Dinuba and Thompson avenues around 5 p.m. According to the sheriff’s department, after approximately an hour-and-a-half, deputies were able to make contact with the suspect, who asked them, “What if I want to die?”

The deputies continued to make contact with the man, who repeatedly made comments about wanting to die, according to Sheriff Margaret Mims. He also pointed a shotgun at his head several times.

Around 7:20 p.m., deputies used less-than-lethal weapons to try to subdue and disable the suspect, who responded by pointing a shotgun at the deputies. One of the deputies shot him, Mims said.

Mims said it is unclear whether the suspect fired any shots. He was found dead inside the trailer.

The suspect is not being identified pending notification of relatives. The sheriff’s department also declined to name the deputy who fired the shot.