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Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
Man shot by cops was brother of man found dead
The second man fatally shot by Fresno police this week was identified on Thursday as the brother of a man whose naked, decomposed body was found Oct. 20 along the San Joaquin River.
John Cooper, 38, was shot and killed Wednesday in a confrontation that Police Chief Jerry Dyer described as "suicide by cop." The Fresno County Coroner's Office did not have an address for Cooper. Fresno police on Wednesday said Cooper lived near the neighborhood where he was shot, at Marks and Santa Ana avenues.
Dyer said today that Cooper is the brother of Daniel Cooper, 45, whose body was found by hikers along the riverbank near Riverside Golf Course.
Dyer said toxicology reports showed Daniel Cooper had high levels of methamphetamine in his bloodstream. Fresno County coroner's officials couldn't confirm what Daniel Cooper had in his blood and didn't have a hometown for him.
The Wednesday shooting happened one day after a Fresno police officer fatally shot an erratic driver.
The Fresno County Sheriff's Office announced that the man a Fresno police sergeant shot Tuesday was unarmed, contrary to initial witness accounts. He was identified as Steven Anthony Vargas, 32, of Fresno. The Sheriff's Office is investigating Tuesday's shooting because it occurred in a county island in central Fresno.
Sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice and Fresno police spokesman Jeff Cardinale declined Wednesday to discuss why the officer felt threatened by Vargas.
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