Today May 1, 2018, officers of the Chowchilla Police Department assisted in the apprehension of 34-year-old, Brandon Coleman of Fresno. Brandon was a wanted person by the Fresno Police Department, after he was suspected of shooting at an occupied vehicle several times in the City of Fresno. The shooting took place during the weekend and due to him being on county parole, the case was given to the Fresno multi agency task force, “ACT Team”. “ACT” is an Adult Compliance Team located in Fresno.

The investigation led, members of the “ACT” Team, to Chowchilla where they were given information about a residence in the city of Chowchilla. Brandon was believed to have been seen inside of the residence. With the assistance of the Madera Special Investigations Unit or “SIU” Team, and the Chowchilla Police Department, they surrounded the location and called for the occupants of the residence to exit.

The calling into the residence went on for over 30 minutes before the first of several people began to comply and come out. After the Madera County Regional SWAT team, arrived on scene, the last person, Brandon finally came out. This took over an hour of phone contacts and commands for him to finally surrender. There were no shots fired at any time and Brandon Coleman was taken into custody unharmed.

As a precaution, the Chowchilla High School was placed on a “lock down” and the students were evacuated to the east of the campus. This was due to the close proximity to the school and the first concern being the safety of the kids. The school staff acted swiftly and no students could be seen from the location where the incident was occurring.

The Madera “SIU” Team is a multi agency team which the Chowchilla Police Department participates in and has a detective assigned to it. The Madera County Regional SWAT Team is also a multi agency team, which the Chowchilla Police Department also has two members on.

The assistance of the California Highway Patrol was also given in the form of their helicopter to assist in public addressing and overhead views of the scene for public and officer safety.