3 men killed in Fresno hate-crime shooting identified - KCRA Sacramento

FRESNO, Calif. —

One day after three white men were killed in downtown Fresno, investigators continue to piece together what led the gunman to randomly fire off 16 gunshots at innocent bystanders.

In the meantime, new information about the victims of the deadly rampage is being released.

THE VICTIMS

The Fresno County coroner's office released the identities Wednesday of all three men who were killed in the Tuesday morning shooting.

Zackary David Randalls, 34, of Clovis, was in a training program with PG&E when he was shot in the passenger seat of the truck and later died at a hospital.

Mark James Gassett, 34 of Fresno, died in a neighborhood, and David Martin Jackson, 58, of Fresno was shot outside Catholic Charities and died at a hospital, the coroner's office said.

Randalls was married and was the father of two young children, according to Randalls' close friend, Eddie Valencia.

He and Randalls were friends for 15 years after bonding on a job over a love of music and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Valencia called Randalls "one of the wittiest people he's ever known," saying the two loved to laugh.

Randalls was in a training program for PG&E and was doing a ride-along Tuesday when he was gunned down. The driver, who wasn't hit, immediately sped toward the police department in an effort to save Randalls, but he died soon after at a hospital.

SHOOTINGS BELIEVED TO BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED

Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, is a black man who apparently singled out white victims and killed them at random, according to Fresno police.

Muhammad, who was arrested after firing 16 shots within a minute, told officers that he hated white people, according to Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

As he was taken into custody, Muhammad also yelled out "God is great" in Arabic, Dyer said.

Dyer clarified during a Tuesday evening news conference that the shooting was based on hate.

"This is no a terrorist-related crime," Dyer said. "This is solely based on race."

Muhammad seemingly confessed to the shootings when he told officers, "I did it, I shot them," Dyer said.

Dyer added that when he got to the scene, Muhammad told him, "I'm sorry, chief."

SUSPECT TAKES INVESTIGATORS THROUGH LAST 6 DAYS

Muhammad gave statements to Fresno detectives Tuesday night that lasted several hours, and also went with investigators to point out exactly where he was and what happened between the killing of a security guard at a Fresno Motel 6 on Thursday and the deadly shootings Tuesday morning, Dyer said in a Wednesday news conference.

Muhammad told investigators that he went to the Motel 6 to meet a woman and was planning to stay at the motel. As a result of that, he was contacted by motel security, Dyer said.

There was an argument, and the two security guards -- one of them identified as Carl Williams, 25 -- asked him to leave. Muhammad wanted his money back, so he went to the office.

Another argument began between the woman and the guards, and that was when Muhammad told investigators that he fired his weapon because he thought Williams was disrespecting them.

"He fired at close range with the intent to kill him," Dyer said.

Muhammad then ran behind the building and climbed on the roof of a building and watched detectives conduct their investigation of Williams' homicide. He stayed on the roof until Friday morning when everyone had left, according to Dyer.

From the Motel 6, Muhammad walked to a nearby school and hid behind a dumpster before taking a city bus to a ravine where he stayed from Friday through Sunday. While there, he practiced voodoo.

Muhammad told investigators that he is Muslim and prays to seven different gods.

Once he left the ravine, Muhammad walked a few blocks away, cut off his braids and set them on fire. He stayed in that area until Tuesday morning, which is when he went to a store to buy crystals as part of a voodoo practice.

Since the store wasn't open, Muhammad went to a Starbucks and was able to get on wifi, only only to discover that he was wanted for shooting Williams at the Motel 6, Dyer said.

"He decided that he was not going to go down for shooting a security guard for disrespecting him," Dyer said. "He was going to go out and kill as many white men as possible."

Dyer said Muhammad told investigators that white people were responsible for keeping the black people down.

"He is not a terrorist, but he is a racist," Dyer said. "He is filled with hate."

Muhammad said that he was not affiliated with any terrorist organization.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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