FRESNO – Police are searching for the gang member suspected of murdering an innocent woman and shooting her husband at a bar in central Fresno.
On March 23, Fresno resident Janae Tatum, 28, was at the Crossroads bar with her husband, 36-year-old Herman Tatum. Police say that 44-year-old Craig Foster, a gang member, tried to hit on Janae Tatum and then got into an argument with her husband, police say.
Foster shot Janae Tatum in the head and also shot Herman Tatum. Janae died from the gunshot wound, but Herman has since recovered, authorities said.
“They are both innocent victims,” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said about the Tatums.
The department is still searching for Foster. They believe he is either still in Fresno or may have gone to Las Vegas.
Dyer described Foster as a “violent gang member.”
This is not the only murder in the Central Valley where innocent victims with no gang ties were killed by gang members. Dyer said that Kevin Bonton Jr., 16, died after being shot by 19-year-old Jacob Abston, a gang member, in southwest Fresno. Abston was arrested.
Last week, a gang member almost hit an 18-month-old baby in Fresno while firing at a car they thought belonged to another gang member, authorities said.
The rash of violence led the police department to undertake a large multi-agency operation on Wednesday targeting people on probation. More than 100 officers searched 50 locations and arrested 19 people. Dyer said more such operations will be going on weekly.
“We’re going to be targeting not only gangs, but the most active and violent individuals in those gangs. We’re going to do this until these gangs and gang members knock it off,” Dyer said.
Read More:
Fresno Bee: Fresno police push back against rash of gang-related shootings
ABC30: Suspect with gang ties sought in Crossroads bar shooting
KMJ: FPD cracks down on gang violence with arrests
