Visalia shooting victim still in critical condition
Published online on Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2009
A 22-year-old woman remained in critical condition Wednesday after police said she was shot by her former boyfriend, who then killed himself, a day earlier during a visitation exchange of their child in Visalia.
Police believe Earl Mitchell, 23, shot Celina Gonzalez and then turned the gun on himself about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at a home on the 2300 block of West Sunnyside Avenue in south Visalia.
Gonzalez and Mitchell were in a common-law relationship for about four years and had an 18-month-old child together, Lt. Ed Lynn said. They most recently had been living in the Goshen area.
About three weeks ago, the couple broke up and Mitchell moved into the West Sunnyside Avenue home with friends, Lynn said. Gonzalez and Mitchell had an informal child-custody agreement.
Gonzalez had gone Tuesday with a relative to the home where Mitchell was staying to pick up their child, Lynn said.
After the child was placed in Gonzalez's vehicle, Mitchell called Gonzalez back into the home.
Shortly thereafter, gunshots were heard. Gonzalez and Mitchell each were found with a single gunshot to the head. Mitchell was pronounced dead at the home. Both were found in a bedroom, Lynn said.
A 9 mm handgun with two spent shell casings was found in the home, Lynn said.
Gonzalez is being treated at Kaweah Delta Medical Center.
Visalia shooting victim still in critical condition
Published online on Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2009
A 22-year-old woman remained in critical condition Wednesday after police said she was shot by her former boyfriend, who then killed himself, a day earlier during a visitation exchange of their child in Visalia.
Police believe Earl Mitchell, 23, shot Celina Gonzalez and then turned the gun on himself about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at a home on the 2300 block of West Sunnyside Avenue in south Visalia.
Gonzalez and Mitchell were in a common-law relationship for about four years and had an 18-month-old child together, Lt. Ed Lynn said. They most recently had been living in the Goshen area.
About three weeks ago, the couple broke up and Mitchell moved into the West Sunnyside Avenue home with friends, Lynn said. Gonzalez and Mitchell had an informal child-custody agreement.
Gonzalez had gone Tuesday with a relative to the home where Mitchell was staying to pick up their child, Lynn said.
After the child was placed in Gonzalez's vehicle, Mitchell called Gonzalez back into the home.
Shortly thereafter, gunshots were heard. Gonzalez and Mitchell each were found with a single gunshot to the head. Mitchell was pronounced dead at the home. Both were found in a bedroom, Lynn said.
A 9 mm handgun with two spent shell casings was found in the home, Lynn said.
Gonzalez is being treated at Kaweah Delta Medical Center.
A man is dead and a woman was in "grave" condition late Tuesday after an attempted murder and a suicide in west Visalia, the Visalia Police Department reported.
Earl Mitchell, 23, of Visalia died of a single shot to the head, police Sgt. Corey Sumpter said. Celina Gonzales, 22, of'Visalia was being treated at an unnamed hospital, also with a gunshot wound to the head.
Police Lt. Allyn Wightman described Gonzales' condition as'"grave."
A semiautomatic handgun was found at the scene of the 4:10 p.m. shooting. Mitchell is believed to have shot both himself and Gonzales, Sumpter said.
"It looks pretty open-shut," Sumpter said. "But everything has to be made official through the [Tulare County] Coroner's Office, including autopsies."
Witnesses reported hearing the sound of gunfire from an apartment in the 2300 block of Sunnyside Avenue near Sallee Street.
"I've heard gunshots before, and that's what it sounded like," said Charlie Keel, who lives in the fourplex where the shooting occurred.
When Keel went outside, he saw a crowd gathering and emergency vehicles pulling up.
"I knew then it was serious," he said.
Keel saw the female victim being carried off on an ambulance gurney.
"They've always been good, quiet neighbors," he said.
Another neighbor, Melissa Snapp, said she didn't know the shooter or victim but was nevertheless shocked.
"I've been here three years now and nothing like this has ever happened," Snapp said.
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