Police: Visalia shooting likely self defense

Police say a man reportedly forced his way into his family's home late Sunday night and had attacked people there when somebody in the south Visalia apartment shot him.

Tyler Monk, 20, was taken to Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia with multiple gunshot wounds, where he died. Visalia police said the shooting appears to be a case of self defense, so no arrest in the case is planned.

Visalia police dispatchers received a 911 call at 10:36 p.m. reporting a family disturbance at an apartment in the 3800 block of South Shady Street. As officer headed to the scene, they received a report that shots had been fired.

Lt. Amy Watkins said the man who was shot was taken by ambulance to Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia. On Monday Police disclosed Monk's name and that he had died.

It was the second shooting in Visalia over the three-day Independence Day weekend.

Early Friday evening, a man was shot in the street in a northeast Visalia neighborhood. He survived.

As for the Sunday night shooting, two neighbors said they each heard three shots shortly before police arrived.

"I thought it was fireworks," said Josh Dill, a neighbor.

Prior to hearing the gunfire, he said he heard yelling from the apartment where the shooting occurred.

Watkins said Sunday night — before detectives arrived — that officers detained a man, but he hadn't been arrested. On Monday, they declined to disclose his name or his relationship to Monk.

Based on their preliminary investigation, Visalia police reported that Monk didn't live in the apartment but had been in an argument there earlier in the evening, returned and returned at 10:36 p.m. — the same time the 911 call was made.

Monk then reportedly forced his way inside, and got into physical altercations with multiple family members. "An adult male resident shot the suspect during the struggle," a Visalia police report states.

Among the people in the apartment was a teenage girl, said Watkins, adding that nobody besides Monk was wounded by gunfire.

Further details of the investigation weren't immediately available on Monday, though police Sgt. Damon Maurice said neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to have played a role in the night's events.

"At this time, the homicide appears to possibly be a case of self defense. No arrests have been made," states the police report, adding that the findings will be forwarded to the Tulare County District Attorney's Office to make a final decision.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Visalia Police Detective Celeste Sanchez at 713-4739.

As for Friday's shooting, which occurred shortly after 6:30 p.m. on West Stover Street between east Cecil and Douglass avenues, Maurice said the man shot was in critical but stable condition on Monday at an undisclosed hospital, and detective were speaking with him.

Maurice didn't disclose his name and age, nor did he disclose any other details of investigators' findings.