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published on May 12, 2017 - 9:52 AM
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(AP) — The Latest on fatal shootings in downtown Fresno, California (all times local):

9:55 a.m.
An evening vigil will be held Thursday for one of the three victims killed during a racially-motivated shooting rampage in Fresno earlier this week.

Mark Gassett had just picked up groceries at a Catholic Charities building when police say Kori Ali Muhammad shot him in the chest, and fired twice more after he fell to make sure he was dead.

Gassett’s ex-wife Lisa Gassett told The Fresno Bee (http://bit.ly/2pHgsHy ) that he had faced hard times but had been working to improve his life. The couple have two children.

The vigil is at 215 N. Fulton St., at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, faith leaders are planning a prayer walk and vigil at noon Thursday. They will meet at the intersection of Divisadero and Fulton streets and walk the route where the three victims were killed. They will then stop for a prayer.

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8:05 a.m.
The father of a man accused of killing four people in Fresno this week says his son blamed white people for putting crack cocaine on the streets and getting him hooked on drugs.

KFSN reports (http://abc30.tv/2oTxJNS ) that Vincent Taylor, the father of murder suspect Kori Ali Muhammad, says his son developed a hatred for white people as a teenager. Muhammad is black.

Muhammad converted to the Nation of Islam and took the name Kori Muhammad as a teenager. His father says his birth name is Cory Taylor.

Muhammad is expected to be charged with murder on Thursday. He could face the death penalty.

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12:05 a.m.
Five days before a rampage that left three men dead, Kori Ali Muhammad shot an unarmed security guard who he felt had insulted him at a Motel 6 when he visited a woman at the hotel, police said.

Muhammad shot the guard, 25-year-old Carl Williams, multiple times at close range shortly after 11 p.m., police said — an act that would set off a chain of events leading to Tuesday’s mass shooting.

Police say Muhammad gave rare and unusual details about his movements and the killings over several hours of questioning following his arrest, even returning with officers to the crimes scenes and demonstrating his actions.


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