One killed in early-morning shooting

A Clovis man was shot to death early Sunday morning as he apparently raced through Clovis in his Sport Utility Vehicle in an attempt to flee his assailants.

Carlos Murillo, 27, died about 3:40 a.m., police said, after he was shot at the intersection of Concord Street and Marvin Hass Boulevard in north Clovis.

Clovis police officials said they received several calls during the early-morning hours that shots were being fired in that area. The first one arrived from a resident in the 1100 block of Concord and the last one from a resident in the 2700 block of Axtell, about eight blocks to the southeast, according to information provided by officials.

Witnesses said the windows of Murillo’s vehicle appeared to have been shot out and the vehicle was riddled with bullet holes.

Clovis Police Chief Bill Carey said Murillo appeared to have been involved in a chase and was killed before he could get away.

No arrests had been made late Sunday night.

“We did find (bullet) casings in some different spots,” Carey said.

“We know he was hit once,” Police Sgt. Roger Grah said.

Grah said at least two suspects were involved, but he declined to release their names.

Neither Carey nor Grah would speculate on what might have sparked the incident.

Carey said police may have recovered an Escalade Sport Utility Vehicle used by the assailants, but declined to provide additional information.

Police said Murillo lives at 2900 Smith Avenue, about 15 blocks from where he was killed, but it was not immediately clear if the chase began at the Smith address.

Across town, big homes with well-manicured lawns line streets near the location where Murillo’s body was found.

Jack Dendy, who lives at 1200 Concord, said his front lawn looked like a crime scene when he woke up at 5 a.m. Sunday.

“They (the police) had yellow tape strung around the trees and in the front of the yard,” he said. “The cops wouldn’t let anyone through the intersection until 9 a.m. this morning.”

Dendy said he was “totally shocked” about the shooting.

“We’re not used to that,” he said. “When we woke up, they told us it was a crime scene. The first thing we did was see if Mecca (our daughter) was OK. It’s just scary.

“There was a lot of bullet damage to the vehicle. A lot of windows were shot out.”

Across the street, Ben and Elaine Hible said they heard a noise like something landing on the floor about 3:30 a.m. outside their home on the corner of Concord Street and Marvin Haas Boulevard.

“We just thought something had fallen and our dogs were restless,” Elaine Hible said.

They both went back to sleep, but at dawn they looked outside to see police cars gathering and a car parked on Marvin Hass Boulevard.

“We could see the body. It looked like somebody sitting in the car,” she said.