Shooter targets random white men on Fresno streets, kills 3

Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif.

A man who shot and killed three people at random on the streets of downtown Fresno shouted “Allahu akbar” during his arrest Tuesday and had posted on social media that he disliked white people, authorities said.

Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was arrested shortly after the morning rampage that left three white men dead, police said. Muhammad, who is black, fired 16 rounds in one minute at four places within a block.

He walked up to a utility truck and shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee sitting in the passenger seat, authorities say. The driver of the truck sped off to the police department for help, but the man died.

Muhammad then shot at another person and missed. He aimed at a third, killing him on the sidewalk of a neighborhood lined with tall trees. The final victim was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building.

It’s too soon to say whether Muhammad, who was homeless and filled his social media feeds with racially charged posts, had ties to any militant groups or causes, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

Muhammad had a criminal past and was wanted in connection with a shooting last week that killed a security guard at a Fresno motel who had responded to a disturbance. The security guard also was a white man.

On what appeared to be Muhammad’s Facebook page, he repeatedly posted “#LetBlackPeopleGo” and encouraged “black warriors” to “mount up.” A flurry of posts emerged in the past day.

He wrote that his “kill rate increases tremendously on the other side” and also posted about “white devils.” On several occasions, he wrote updates that included the phrase “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “God is great” in Arabic.