A 26-year-old Hanford man is behind bars after police say he pistol-whipped two minors during a fight, then went to what he believed was their home and opened fire on it — only to shoot up the wrong house. Daniel Alarcon was booked into Kings County Jail on a string of felony charges, including shooting at an inhabited dwelling, after a bizarre case of mistaken identity turned into gunfire on a quiet residential block.
Rocks, Gunfire and a Report of Broken Windows
According to the Hanford Sentinel, officers were dispatched to the 600 block of South Redington Street around 3:30 a.m. on September 17 after residents reported rocks thrown through windows and shots fired at the home. When police arrived, they found evidence confirming a shooting had in fact occurred at the residence, the paper reported. The department's Street Crimes Unit and detectives took over the investigation from there.
Police allege Alarcon had been involved in a physical altercation with two juveniles beforehand, striking both of them with a handgun, per the same account. Investigators believe Alarcon then went to the South Redington Street residence under the mistaken belief that it belonged to the juveniles from the earlier altercation, and fired a handgun at the home. The same report notes Alarcon caused additional damage to several windows by throwing rocks and striking them with the firearm.
Motive Behind the Mistaken Address Emerges
A more detailed account of what led to the shooting surfaced days later. Hanford police determined that Alarcon had pistol-whipped the two minors during the altercation before mistakenly targeting the wrong residence, according to Merced Scoop, which cited the narrative shared by police with local media. That account fills in the sequence between the assault on the minors and the shots fired at the South Redington Street home one week before Alarcon's arrest.
Investigators tracked Alarcon down in the 700 block of South Phillips Street on September 24, where he was taken into custody without incident and booked into Kings County Jail, the Hanford outlet reported. Local Crime News reported that Alarcon was also booked on an additional count of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place while not being the registered owner of the weapon, a detail that adds to the list of preliminary counts logged at booking.
A Stack of Felony Charges
Alarcon faces charges under Penal Code 246 for shooting at an inhabited dwelling, Penal Code 245(a)(2) for assault with a firearm, Penal Code 25850(a) for carrying a loaded firearm in public, Penal Code 594(a)(3) for vandalism, Penal Code 417(a)(1) for brandishing a deadly weapon, and Penal Code 273a for child endangerment, according to the Hanford Sentinel. Under California law, shooting at an inhabited dwelling is a felony punishable by three, five, or seven years in state prison, or six to 12 months in county jail, along with fines of up to $10,000, according to Wallin & Klarich. A home qualifies as inhabited under the statute if it is used as a residence, even if no one was inside at the moment shots were fired.
The assault with a firearm charge is what's known as a wobbler, meaning prosecutors can pursue it as a felony carrying two, three, or four years in state prison, or as a misdemeanor carrying six months to a year in county jail, per Eisner Gorin LLP. The charge level can depend on the firearm used and the defendant's criminal history. The child endangerment count is also a wobbler; California Penal Code 273a covers circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm or death and carries up to six years in state prison if charged as a felony, according to the Silver Law Firm, which notes the law targets the risk created by an adult's actions regardless of whether physical injuries actually occurred.
A felony conviction or certain specified misdemeanor convictions can trigger a lifetime ban on owning or possessing firearms in California, according to the Shouse Law Group. It remains unclear what formal charges the Kings County District Attorney's Office will ultimately file, and whether the two minors required medical treatment for their injuries has not been disclosed.
The Unit Involved in the Investigation
The investigation was led in part by Hanford police's Street Crimes Unit. In its first year, the unit made 99 arrests and seized 21 firearms.
