2017 Fresno shootings

Jury selection for Muhammad's trial began on February 4, 2020 and the trial began on March 2. Muhammad faced four murder charges and four attempted murder charges. Muhammad's trial was a death penalty case.

Kori Muhammad was convicted of second-degree murder of Carl Williams, Mark Gassett, and Zachary Randalls, and was convicted of first-degree murder of David Jackson with special circumstances pertaining to hate crime on race, and four attempted second-degree murders on April 22, 2020. The second phase of Muhammad's murder trial was to involve a sanity phase in which it was to determine if he was sane at the time of his murders. Muhammad's defense team made a deal with the prosecution to remove Muhammad's possible death penalty for the murders, and for Muhammad to receive a life sentence in prison in exchange for the sanity phase of the trial to be withdrawn. Muhammad was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Muhammad was incarcerated in the Wasco State Prison but was later transferred to the Kern Valley State Prison and has since been transferred to the California State Prison, Los Angeles County.

During testimony, Muhammad claimed he was a god, and stated that God would destroy America if African-Americans were not given reparations. He also claimed to take credit for the destruction of Paradise, California during the 2018 Camp Fire (2018).

On April 18, 2017, a racially motivated shooting spree occurred in Fresno, California, leaving three white people dead. The gunman, Kori Ali Muhammad, a black supremacist, was convicted of four murders and four attempted murders. Muhammad said he went on his shooting spree because of his hatred for white people and particularly white men. Muhammad fired off 17 shots, shooting and killing three men, shooting at and missing another three men, and shooting at a vehicle with passengers inside. The passengers of the vehicle were unharmed. All of Muhammad's victims were white.

Following his arrest, Muhammad was charged with four counts of murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. On April 21, 2017, he made his first court appearance for the murder of Carl Williams and the attempted murder of the second security guard at the Motel 6. During the hearing, he shouted on two different occasions, saying "Let black people go" and a phrase similar to "in reparations" that was not clearly enunciated. He also warned that natural disasters striking the U.S. will increase. As a result, criminal proceedings were suspended and the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Muhammad, setting bail at $2.6 million. His next court appearance was scheduled on May 12, but was postponed to June 1 to give psychologists more time to prepare Muhammad's mental health report.

On October 13, 2017, the judge set a trial date for January 8, 2018. The initial hearings focused on Muhammad's mental competency. During the hearings Muhammad shouted demands for slavery reparations and also yelled "Allahu akbar." Muhammad's lawyer said he continued to gathered evidence that Muhammad was incompetent to be held criminally responsible. Two psychiatrists had determined that he was incompetent but another said that he was not. Dr. Meloy declared Muhammad competent and stated that "He knows the "shrink talk". He knows how to communicate to a psychologist or psychiatrist when he's being interviewed because he knows what the psychiatrist or psychologist is looking for." Dr Meloy believed that Muhammad's schizophrenia was managed effectively and that it was a non factor in Muhammad's thinking to deduce right from wrong in the killings. On January 22, 2018, Judge Jonathan Conklin ruled that Muhammad was competent to stand trial.

In addition, Muhammad produced a music-themed talk show at the Community Media Access Collaborative, a nonprofit organization specializing in promoting people and companies through the use of media. Muhammad's talk show ran for four episodes, which were produced between May 12, 2015, and October 10, 2016. In that talk show, he claimed that he had joined a Sacramento gang at the age of nine, the "black liberation movement" at the age of fourteen, and the NOI later on in his teens. The organization's director of operations described Muhammad, a frequenter at the facility, as "kind and curious" to the staff. However, a former friend who met Muhammad at the facility, but later removed him from his friended list on Facebook, described him as "intense and unnerving"

According to court records filed in February 2005, he was arrested and indicted in federal court on charges of "possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm for drug trafficking and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon". In September, Muhammad sought an insanity defense and underwent a psychiatric evaluation after his lawyer claimed his client was "suffering from hallucinations, paranoia and psychosis." A judge ruled that he was incompetent to stand trial and had him committed to a facility for up to four months. He was deemed competent in August 2006, after which he pleaded guilty to two of seven counts in the indictment. Muhammad was sentenced to over nine years in prison, though the sentence was downgraded to over seven years in 2008. He was released from prison early in September 2016.

Muhammad had a criminal history dated from 1997 to 2004, consisting of arrests on weapons, drugs, forgery, and false imprisonment charges, as well as making terrorist threats. Court documents also indicated that he "suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalizations." Two of his earliest arrests occurred when he was still a teenager; on both occasions, he allegedly brought a gun to school. In 2004, Muhammad was arrested in Washington state for allegedly firing a gun outside his apartment. He left the state and the case was dismissed after prosecutors declined to extradite him to a federal prison.

Muhammad was a resident of both Fresno and Sacramento, California. According to Muhammad's Facebook page, he studied multimedia at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento. A spokesman for the Los Rios Community College District identified a student named Kori McWallace—with the same date of birth as Muhammad—who attended Cosumnes, American River College, and Sacramento City College at various times from 1996 to 2004. However, no details were immediately offered about his studies or if he graduated. Muhammad also attended classes at Fresno City College, but according to a classmate, he would often not show up for weeks at a time and accuse his instructors of being racist.

Kori Ali Muhammad (born March 21, 1978) was the gunman in all of the shootings. He was homeless at the time, and had some association with gangs, but was not a member of one himself. He has three children.