"Investigators do not believe that Flores was the intended target, and this senseless act of violence may have been a case of mistaken identity," police said in a statement on Sunday, without elaborating.
Officers responded to the shooting around 10:45 p.m. and found the mom inside the parked vehicle suffering from a single bullet wound to the head, police said. The bullet struck the back window of her daughter's car, but she was not hurt.
Flores was saved by officers and emergency personnel on the spot. She was then transferred to a local hospital in "grave condition".
Flores was working in garlic fields for her daughter while she took courses at Fresno State, according to Odalis Tepec, her cousin.
"She was like a big sibling to me. Every time I needed someone to talk to, she was always there," Tepec said. It was hard to believe... It felt as if it were a dream. We just had to get up. It wasn't.
Fresno police want the public's assistance in investigating the shooting. They noted that people can submit anonymous tips including videos, photographs, or other digital evidence to its evidence submission portal.
