By: Ashley Ritchie

Julio Ortiz was at his home near Woodward and Chance just before five Wednesday when a noise outside startled him.

"I heard something, I had to look, I was in my house. I heard shots, maybe five, six," Ortiz said.

Gunshots rippled through the air. And soon dozens of police cars followed.

"It's a little scary you know," Ortiz said.

"We are doing a yard to yard search. We have our helicopter out here with K9's and our district crime suppression team," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

Dyer says it all started around 4:45 Wednesday afternoon when a man tried to rob a street vendor with a knife.

A passerby saw the confrontation, called 911 and officers responded. And a foot chase followed.

"As the officer continued to give chase, at one point there was a physical confrontation between the suspect and the officer. When the suspect confronted the officer, he was armed with a knife at that point and the officer fired his handgun at the suspect," Dyer said.

But police aren't sure if the suspect was even hit.

He ran off, prompting a manhunt and concerns of where he may have gone.

"There is a concern that this suspect is armed. He did run into a residential area. That's why we have expedited the search, hoping that he has not made his way into an apartment," Dyer said.

As officers searched house by house, the crime suppression team, several K9 units and the department's helicopter are covering more ground.

"It's a one block by one block, but it's a large area and there's a significant number of apartments in there. It's gonna take us a while to do a methodical search," Dyer said.

Just before 10pm Wednesday, Chief Jerry Dyer called off the manhunt, saying the suspect was nowhere to be found and neither were traces of blood that would've been there if he'd been shot.