Sister: Shooting death investigated as suspicious

CLOVIS — Family members of a man found shot to death Tuesday morning in Clovis say the matter is being investigated as suspicious.

Clovis police said officers responded at 10:42 a.m. Tuesday to the 1100 block of North Prince Street and encountered a 26-year-old male with a gunshot wound. The man was transported to Plains Regional Medical Center where he died.

Family members identified him as Adam Vallejos-Landers, and said he was discovered in a storage shed outside of the house.

Police initially said the shooting did not appear to be a criminal matter. They did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday.

District Attorney Andrea Reeb said her office has not been notified of a possible homicide and the Major Crimes Unit has not been activated.

Elizabeth Holt, a sister of Vallejos-Landers, told The News on Thursday the incident initially looked like a suicide, but that police told her further investigation pointed away from that conclusion. Police now suspect Vallejos-Landers did not kill himself because of the path of the bullet, the placement of the sawed-off shotgun in his hand and the lack of any blood splatter in the shed, Holt said.

Another sister, Alexandra Barnett, did not believe her brother would have killed himself, noting he had five children and two of them were newborns.

“He loved his kids,” Barnett said. “He would not do that.”

The shooting victim was one of 13 siblings — one of nine boys, and one of eight who was adopted, family members said.

Police on Tuesday afternoon arrested a man outside the home where the shooting death occurred but court records show that man was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer; neither allegation indicated the man was a suspect in the shooting.

We will have more information as it becomes available.