Jacqueline Flores Fresno California mother shot dead in front of 6 yr old daughter in mistaken identity shooting. No arrests.
A California mother died three days after she was shot in the head while sitting in a parked car with her six-year-old daughter, in what police suspect may have been the result of a ‘mistaken identity’ killing.
Jacqueline Flores, 25, died on Friday at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, from a gunshot wound that police said left her ‘fighting for her life’.
Flores was parked near Kearney Boulevard and Thorne Avenue, close to the Fresno Chandler Executive Airport, on Tuesday at 10.45pm when bullets entered her car, narrowly missing her daughter who was in the back seat.
‘Fortunately the child was not injured, but a bullet did enter the rear window where the child was sitting,’ police said at the time.
The city’s ShotSpotter detection system tracked seven gunshots at the intersection on the night of the shooting, according to the Fresno Bee.
Fresno homicide rate four times that of surrounding cities
Flores was said to be in ‘grave condition’ on Thursday, and she died the next day.
‘Investigators do not believe that she was the intended target,’ police said. ‘This senseless act of violence may have been a case of mistaken identity.’
Fresno’s homicide rate of 4.2 per 100,000 residents is more than four times the rates of larger cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, according to an analysis of five years of crime data by KFSN in March.
The only city faring worse is Oakland, with a rate of 7.38 per 100,00.
‘I can tell you when I left as a police chief of this city, we were averaging about seven shootings per week,’ said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, who was previously the city’s chief of police during a 40-year career at the agency.
‘Those numbers more than doubled and in some cases, tripled.’
There were 34 murders in Fresno by June 1, a 108 percent increase from last year, according to KSEE.
Mom who took classes was devoted to 6yr old daughter
Flores worked in the nearby garlic fields and was in the middle of taking courses at California State University Fresno when she was fatally shot, her cousin Odalis Tepec told KGPE.
‘To me, she was like a big sister. Every time I needed someone to talk to, she was always there,’ Tepec, told KSEE.
‘It was hard to believe … It felt like it could have been a dream, like, we just had to wake up. But it wasn’t.’
The family set up a GoFundMe for Flores after her death, and it has met its goal of raising $10,000.
‘She didn’t deserve this,’ the description reads. ‘If you also know anything about what happen contact the police to help catch the person that did this.’
As of Monday night, $11, 335 had been raised.
Authorities told of no arrests or suspects being brought to account.
