By DJ Becker/TheMaderaNews.com March 31st, 2025
A young Madera man working at the Walgreens store on west Cleveland Avenue was randomly shot at point blank range and killed Monday night about 9:30, according to The Madera Police Department. The shooter fired at and attempted to kill other employees as they fled for their lives.
Apprehended while reloading the 9mm handgun in the parking lot, the shooter, Narciso Gallardo Fernandez of Pixley, may have been planning to move to another location to continue killing had he not been stopped by police. Police are investigating the possibility that the shooter may have had a grudge against the pharmacy group or industry.
Police identified the victim as Erick Velasquez, a married father of two young children and a long-time, well-known member of the community. A GoFundMe account has been set up for the victim’s family. https://www.gofundme.com/f/remembering-erick-velazquez-support-his-family
Police Chief Giachino Chiaramonte said the incident remains under investigation, and the motive remains unknown. “The men did not know each other. There was no known connection to the store. The firing of between 5 and ten rounds appeared to be 100% random, senseless, and unprovoked,” he said. “Narciso Fernandez of Pixley stopped in Madera last night for some unknown reason and drove down Cleveland Avenue. He turned into the Walgreens and went in. He was armed with a handgun when he went in. He walked around the store and through the aisles, opened and ate from a bag of chips or something, and then, unprovoked, targeted and shot a male employee inside. It was not a confrontational thing. The pharmacy was closed. It was not drug related or a robbery. Fernandez pulled the handgun out of his pocket and shot once and killed the victim,” Chiaramonte said.
“As the other employees fled out the front doors, he fires again and tries to shoot them and the store manager as they are running, along with several shots striking the overhead video and surveillance screens.” Customers in the store ran for their lives or took cover where they could.
Fernandez, pictured below, was seen in the store surveillance, pausing, calmly looking up at the surveillance system, and then firing directly at it, causing it to go dark, as if to make a statement.
Chiaramonte said the shooter, Fernandez, had tried to kill more victims, but he was thankful the employees knew how to react. “These store employees’ quick thinking and actions saved themselves. They knew what to do. Because of their swift actions to protect themselves, to run, to hide. Those actions saved lives. It’s sad, but it’s the world we live in. We only lost one life. He wanted to take more … he tried to take more lives … but they ran, defended themselves and saved their own lives.” Chiaramonte said when the many police units converged on the scene, they found the alleged shooter, Fernandez, calmly standing in the parking lot by the open trunk of his dark 2017 Camaro convertible, reloading the 9 mm pistol. Toxicology reports are pending, he said, but there were no visible indicators of drug or alcohol use by the suspect, and he wasn’t suicidal. “We are reaching out to the FBI and other agencies to be sure we aren’t missing anything. But at this time, there appears to be no answer to the why or the motivation of this shooting,” he said. It is unknown at this time if the handgun used belonged to Fernandez or if it was legally owned by him.
When asked by officers what he was doing in the parking lot, Fernandez was stoic and reportedly freely uttered, “Reloading. I wasn’t done … shooting,” but Fernandez told officers he knew it was over when he saw all the police units arriving at the scene, according to Chiaramonte. He was taken into custody without incident and reportedly freely gave police statements with all the details of the shooting incident.
According to records, Fernandez had no criminal or gang history, had attended UC Merced, and some time ago had previously been in a traffic collision, apparently resulting in a serious injury to his head and right arm. He was arrested on charges of murder and is being held at the Madera County Jail.
The unusual incident, which police train for and refer to as an active shooter incident, drew multiple aid assistance from the Madera County Sheriff’s Department and the community.
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