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Investigators identify teenager killed in Turlock neighborhoodTURLOCK, Apr 18, 2012 (The Modesto Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Police offered a few more details Tuesday of an officer-involved fatal shooting in west Turlock a day earlier. Investigators identified the person shot as Alejandro Hernandez, 19, of Turlock. Officer Mayra Lewis said Hernandez had previous contact with the Police Department, but she didn't know the nature of those calls. Hernandez was with three other people near Nikki Ann Way and North Tully Road about 11:30 a.m., police said. Someone called police regarding a "suspicious group of subjects possibly casing the area," according to a news release issued Tuesday. When officers arrived, police said, Hernandez pointed a handgun at an officer "and the officer fired his handgun in response to the threat." Lewis said she didn't know how many times the officer, whose name has not been released, fired his gun. Hernandez was struck in the torso. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police recovered a loaded handgun at the scene. Investigators interviewed as witnesses the three other individuals with Hernandez, Lewis said. She did not know their gender or ages. She said none of them was armed. In the news release, Police Chief Rob Jackson expressed his condolences to Hernandez's family. Neighbors described the area as quiet, especially in recent years as more houses have been added. "We haven't had any issues on our street in a long time," said Jenaia Torres, who lives around the corner from where the shooting occurred. "Down Nikki Ann Way, we have noticed that there are houses where they're constantly moving people in and out." Outside of a couple of residential burglaries, however, Torres and another neighbor, Angela Arrizon, said there hasn't been any crime in the area. It's not clear if police believed Hernandez and the others planned to burglarize a home. The last time a police officer in Turlock fatally shot someone was in 2005. Rafael Cuevas Jr., 30, died during a shootout on Geer Road after officers tried to stop him in connection with a car theft. He shot and wounded an officer. Before that, the city hadn't seen a fatal officer-involved shooting since 1992, when a bicyclist pulled a knife and tried to stab an officer who had stopped him. The officer shot and killed Mervyn K. Crow III on North Soderquist Road. Arrizon, who lives a block from Thursday's shooting, said she believes the incident was isolated and there's no further danger to residents. Torres agreed, but added, "With the world that we live in, you kind of never feel really safe." Bee staff writer Patty Guerra can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2343. ------ 2012 Stanislaus County Homicide Map View 2012 Stanislaus County Homicides in a larger map ___ (c)2012 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) Visit The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) at www.modbee.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |