On September 18, 2023, 24-year-old Benito Andrew Cortez was shot and killed in central Fresno, California, around 3:30 p.m. on East Union Avenue near Cedar and Clinton avenues, about a block south of McLane High School. A deputy found Cortez lying unresponsive in the roadway with a gunshot wound; emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.

Witnesses reported a verbal altercation before the shooting. Surveillance footage later showed Cortez arriving in the neighborhood and brandishing a handgun fitted with an extended ammunition clip, pointing the weapon at two teenage boys who were students at McLane High School. As Cortez aimed at one teen, the other teen drew a firearm and shot Cortez in the head. The handgun with the extended clip believed to be Cortez’s was recovered at the scene.

Fresno police concluded the shooting was a justifiable homicide, determining the teenager acted in self-defense, and removed the death from the city’s intentional homicide count for 2023. No arrests have been announced and the department is asking anyone with information to come forward.

Did anyone in the area see events leading up to the confrontation or have footage that could help clarify what happened?