Police say 19-year-old Edgar Hernandez died after a shooting at the Reflections apartment complex in northwest Fresno.
FRESNO, CA — A 13-year-old boy was arrested after a shooting Tuesday night at a northwest Fresno apartment complex left 19-year-old Edgar Hernandez dead, police said.
The case has drawn attention because of the suspect’s age, the death of a young man and the decision to book the boy on a manslaughter charge while detectives continue their investigation. Fresno police described the shooting as isolated and said investigators are still working to determine what led up to it.
Northwest Policing District officers first went to the Reflections apartment complex near Barstow and Brawley avenues at about 8:04 p.m. Tuesday after reports of a gunshot in the area, police said. Officers checked the complex but did not find clear evidence of a shooting at first. About 19 minutes later, at 8:23 p.m., police received updated information that a shooting victim was inside one of the apartments. Officers then found Hernandez inside a unit with an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body. He was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where he was treated but later died. Police said detectives later determined the 13-year-old was responsible for the shooting.
The boy, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was taken into custody and booked into the Juvenile Justice Campus on a manslaughter charge. Police said the case was not immediately filed as a homicide charge while investigators reviewed the facts. Detectives had not publicly said by Saturday how the boy obtained the gun, whether the shooting followed a fight or whether others were inside the apartment when the shot was fired. The Fresno Police Department said the investigation remained active and that detectives were still seeking information from people who may have seen or heard what happened at the complex.
Hernandez was identified by police after the shooting. The Reflections complex sits in a busy northwest Fresno area near major streets, apartment buildings and neighborhood traffic. The first call sent officers to search the property for evidence before they later learned a wounded person was inside a unit. That timeline has become a central part of the investigation because police first responded to a report of a gunshot, then returned to a more specific location after the victim was reported inside. Officials have not said whether any weapon was recovered, whether surveillance video was collected or whether the teen and Hernandez knew each other before the shooting.
The juvenile case will move through the Fresno County juvenile justice system. Action News legal analyst Tony Capozzi said the suspect’s age matters because a 13-year-old cannot be handled in adult criminal court in the same way as an older teen or adult. “How do you handle someone who’s a 13-year-old?” Capozzi said. “This is gonna stay in the juvenile court.” He said investigators and prosecutors could weigh several factors, including intent, self-defense claims or whether the shooting happened in the heat of passion. Police have not announced a final charging decision, and prosecutors had not publicly detailed their review by Saturday.
Residents near the complex described the shooting as unsettling. Bill Scott, who said he has lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years and worked as an educator for two decades, said the violence was unexpected. “I’m not afraid of it but it makes me sad that something like that went down with young people,” Scott said. His comments reflected a larger concern around a case involving two young people, one dead and one accused in a fatal shooting before reaching high school age. Police said there was no broader threat tied to the incident, but they did not release more details about what happened inside the apartment.
Detectives had not announced additional arrests by Saturday. The next steps include continued witness interviews, review of evidence and a decision by juvenile prosecutors on how the case will proceed.
Author note: Last updated June 27, 2026.