‘Very smart’ California kid saves family from fugitive who carjacked them
A child whose terrified family was carjacked by a man fleeing a Fresno County shooting came up with a ruse that allowed them to escape, police said.
Hours later, the alleged carjacker was dead after he continued his erratic rampage in a Fresno neighborhood.
The chaotic series of events started around noon Saturday at a house on the north edge of Selma. A man later identified as Jorge Calleres, 39, of Parlier, entered the home of his ex-girlfriend and shot her in the face, the Fresno County sheriff said.
Fleeing the scene, Calleres commandeered a car that had a woman and four children in it and began driving north toward Fresno. He refused to let the family out — but one of the kids came up with a plan.
“One of the children was, from what I understand, very, very smart and actually faked an asthma attack,” said Fresno police chief Paco Balderrama. “The suspect pulled over and kicked the family out of the vehicle.”
The five escaped uninjured.
The carjacker continued on to Fresno, and around 12:50 p.m. police began receiving calls about a man acting erratically in a suburban neighborhood, pounding on people’s doors.
When officers arrived, they realized he matched the description of the Selma shooter and he appeared to be high on drugs.
Officers used a taser and handcuffs to subdue him, then noticed he was having trouble breathing. An ambulance took Calleres to a hospital, where he died around 2 p.m.
Fresno police will be investigating this incident as an “in custody” death because Calleres was in medical distress while handcuffed. The officers involved are on leave.
The woman whom he shot remained in critical condition on Sunday.
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