FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – One adult and two teenagers were arrested for stealing vehicles and doing donuts in Fresno, officials from the Fresno Police Department said.
Police say, on Tuesday night in the Walmart parking space at Shaw and Blythe avenues, three women were loading groceries into their vehicle when a man in his 20s and a teen armed with a handgun approached them, and demanded the women’s vehicle.
Northwest police officers say they immediately began looking for the suspects and the stolen vehicle.
Then, approximately an hour later, a man and a woman were approached by three men, two of them armed with handguns, and demanded the victim’s vehicle and belongings, authorities added.
According to the police, the suspects got into the victim’s vehicle and drove away but were not able to get far due to the car becoming disabled and the vehicle was abandoned.
The suspects took some of the victims’ property and left the area in the original stolen vehicle, police said.
The victims called 911 and police officers said they responded to search for the suspects.
Police officials say, approximately 30 minutes later, the suspects approached two men that were outside of a Dutch Bros at Herndon and Palm avenues.
As the suspects drove away, police stated the driver pointed a handgun into the air from his open driver’s window.
Around 20 minutes later a person called 911 to report a vehicle occupied by three men doing donuts in the area of Spruce and Hayes avenues, before it crashed into a tree, the official report said.
Officials say that thanks to the caller’s description of the vehicle and its occupants, officers believed they were related to the earlier incidents.
Police officers say they arrived and detained the three men.
20-year-old Jinathan Kelley who is currently on parole for First Degree Robbery and an active gang member, according to police records, and 19-year-old Michael Hernandez were booked into the Fresno County Jail.
The 17-year-old boy was booked into the Juvenile Justice Center.
Fresno police officials added that two replica firearms and a privately manufactured firearm were found during the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call
Anyone with information or someone that may have been a victim of these individuals is asked to call Detective Thao at (559) 360-0739.