MERCED COUNTY, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – A man has been arrested in connection with a homicide investigation in Merced County, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Dispatchers received a call for an unresponsive person near Vine Avenue and Fruitland Avenue around 7:45 p.m. on Thursday in Atwater, an area that deputies describe as a typically quiet one.
“It is part of Atwater but there is a manufacturing plant nearby, there’s orchards, there’s ag land. They’re kind of ranchettes. There’s not a lot of houses out there. They’re kind of few and far between,” said Michelle Oliver, public relations coordinator with the Merced County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies investigating homicide in Atwater
Deputies say upon arrival, they located an unresponsive man in the street, who was suffering from a gunshot wound. Paramedics arrived and attempted to perform life-saving measures, but the victim ended up succumbing to his injuries at the scene.
Sheriff’s officials say they identified the suspect as 36-year-old Straightarrow Justin McPherson, and deputies requested their SWAT team and Investigations Bureau to the scene. The suspect, however, refused to come out of his home nearby.