December 22, 2022 - The Fresno County Sheriff's Office reports Homicide detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office have obtained strong evidence to show 32 year old Dennis Happawana of Fresno is responsible for the shooting death of 44 year old Amanda Berry of Fresno.

On November 17th, Berry was found deceased in the front yard of her home located near the southeast corner of McKinley and Temperance Avenues in Fresno. A further examination showed she had been shot by a 9mm bullet. Initially, detectives were unable to determine a motive and identify a suspect.

Dennis Happawana pictured (Photo from 2016 robbery arrest)

On Tuesday, December 6th, a deputy was dispatched to a call of shots fired in the area of Belmont and N. Wintergreen Avenues in Fresno. The deputy saw a man walking on the roadway and shined a light on him. The man, later identified as Dennis Happawana, immediately fired his rifle at the deputy’s patrol vehicle. A 6.5mm Creedmoor round struck the engine compartment, disabling the vehicle. Happawana ran away and into his family’s home on Wintergreen Ave.

Additional deputies responded to the area and surrounded the home. At 3:15 am, they heard a grinding noise, followed by a loud explosion and yelling. The smell of natural gas / propane filled the air and deputies could hear what appeared to be a pressurized gas leak. Due to the serious nature of this incident, deputies with our Air Support Unit, SWAT Team and Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) responded.

Deputies flew drones over the home in search of the suspect. Once he was located outside the house, some SWAT members entered the house in search of Happawana’s parents, whom they knew were inside and they feared were injured. Once inside, deputies could smell a strong odor of gas, which was determined to come from stove burners that were left on. Deputies eventually found Dennis’ parents locked in a bedroom. SWAT rescued them, taking the couple out of the house to a safe location.

Drone operators continued to monitor Happawana’s movements. Around 5:15 am, he eventually made his way toward the back of the house where he was confronted by SWAT members. Happawana refused deputies’ commands to drop his weapons. SWAT used less lethal force on him, but he continued to advance toward deputies causing them to fire their guns, striking Happawana. Deputies immediately gave him medical aid, along with EMS members who were on standby with an ambulance. However, Happawana did not survive his injuries.

Homicide detectives and members of our Crime Scene Unit responded to the scene to conduct an investigation. They collected evidence which included a privately manufactured AR-10 style rifle and 9mm handgun, along with live ammunition rounds, spent casings, a portable grinding tool, and notebooks belonging to Happawana. They also observed a 500 gallon propane tank on the property, which had been intentionally damaged by a grinder.

A couple savvy detectives recalled the murder of Amanda Berry had occurred not far away (approximately 3 miles) from this home and suggested everyone look for any evidence at Happawana’s home that may be similar to what was discovered at Berry’s home.

Detectives would in fact collect 9mm aluminum casings at Happawana’s home, which happened to be the same brand of ammunition found on Berry’s property. This coincidence led detectives to take a deeper look into other similarities.

Back on the evening of November 17th, detectives developed information that Berry’s death may have been the result of her interrupting a property crime. This became apparent after Berry’s boyfriend encountered workers for a cellular company on his property. They stated they were repairing the tower because it was vandalized and lost service at midnight on November 17th. Detectives had already received a witness statement of a gunshot being heard around midnight. Berry’s boyfriend had the workers contact the Sheriff’s Office to explain more about the damage. Detectives responded and were led through a locked gate to examine a slice in the metal of the tower. There they also found a handwritten note next to it. The note, written in red pen, contained anti-government types of messages. Detectives later received surveillance video recorded at midnight near the property and were able to now focus their attention on the cell tower. The video showed flashes of light; later determined to be a grinding tool being used on the cell tower. They also saw a tiny image of a person riding away on a bicycle. Happawana was known to ride a bike.

As detectives looked over evidence from Happawana’s room, they found handwritten notes. They contained similar messages to the anti-government note, which featured matching handwriting in red pen. A firing test was conducted on Happawana’s 9mm handgun and it produced identical strike matches to the casings found at both Berry’s home and Happawana’s home.