Patrice Williams thought she could hear the popping of the balloons she had blown up earlier as she gathered with friends and family for cake to celebrate her daughter's second birthday. But the loud bursts of gunfire that echoed through the banquet hall were actually the sounds of gunshots that ultimately killed four guests at the birthday party she hosted.
“I don't know what happened, I'm just shocked and confused,” Ms Williams told The Associated Press.
mass shooting in Stockton, California Three children, ages eight, nine and 14, and a 21-year-old died over the weekend, authorities said. Eleven other people were injured, one critically, in the shooting, where about 100 guests were celebrating.
Ms. Williams' other daughter, a cousin and three of her friends were among those shot as partygoers gathered around the cake, she told the AP.
Others were about to sit down to dinner in the banquet hall when a gunman – or gunmen – entered with an automatic weapon. Authorities believe the attack may have been targeted.
The shooting appeared to start inside the event and then spread outside, authorities said, and it was unclear whether anyone returned fire.
Ms. Williams said she did not see the shooter and had no idea who could have carried out such violence.
“They deserve to go to jail. They deserve to go to hell,” she told the AP. “I'm sorry, but I just… it's inappropriate. This is a children's holiday.”
Getty ImagesLater that night, the sirens of ambulances and police cars blared through the thick fog, keeping residents awake as police searched for the culprits and evidence of the crime, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The once festive spot, replete with rainbow balloons and a swan-shaped trampoline, is now a crime scene being investigated by the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department, the FBI and other federal agencies.
Stockton, located about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of San Francisco, has seen an increase in violent crime, including murder, rape, assault and robbery. The broader San Joaquin Valley, which also includes smaller neighboring cities, had the highest violent crime rate in the state in 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said authorities are “confident this was not a random act.”
They believe that several shooters, who are still at large, were involved in the murder. While the city of 320,000 people is gripped by fear, officials say there is no ongoing threat to the population.
They are calling on the public to provide tips and videos, as well as specific rumors surrounding the shooting. They also offer increasing rewards for information.
Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi said in a statement that the criminals will be caught and “you will never see the outside of a jail cell again.”
“If you have any humanity left in you, give up immediately,” she said.
While the mayor suspects gang violence was the motive, Sheriff Withrow says it's too early to tell.
On Sunday night, he said the community needs to “show that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior where people just come and kill children” by coming forward and “telling us everything you know.”
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered flags at the state capital in Sacramento to be flown at half-staff “to honor the children we mourn and to support the community as it grieves.”
Although the names of the victims have not been officially released, relatives and friends have begun to identify some of them on the Internet and in the media.
Maya Lupyan, “the most outgoing eight-year-old you'll ever meet,” was identified by her sister Yesenia as one of the dead on a crowdfunding site.
She excelled academically and in extracurricular activities, had a purple belt in karate, and loved to dance, sing, and draw.
“Maya was the light of everyone's life, the sweetest soul,” her sister wrote.
The family of the slain 14-year-old identified him as Amari Peterson, “a bright, beloved and promising young soul whose life was taken too soon by a senseless act of violence.”
Originally from nearby Modesto, he was an American football and basketball player and planned to attend college, his family wrote on a crowdfunding site seeking donations for his funeral.
“He was just a kid at a baby shower,” they wrote. “No family should ever go from planning birthdays to planning funerals.”
The boy's father, Patrick Peterson, told the Sacramento Bee that he “can't live with the fact that I couldn't save my son.” He said his nine-year-old daughter was also wounded but managed to escape by escaping out the back door and climbing over a fence to safety.
One man, Emmanuel Lopez, told the LA Times that his brother Susano Archuleta was the 21-year-old who was killed, saying he was hit in the neck and died at the scene.
“I'm just upset right now. My brother died in my arms,” Mr. Lopez said, describing Mr. Archuleta as “full of life and energy.”
Family members, some still in their holiday clothes, returned to the scene the next day to retrieve their cars and belongings, according to the LA Times. They refused to give their names for fear that the shooter or shooters would find them and harm them.
“Who thinks this would happen at a child’s birthday party,” said a woman who identified herself as the birthday girl’s great-aunt. “This doesn't make any sense. It was a massacre. Pointless. Madness. Find the people who did this.”
The event space — a former children's theater that is also used for content creation and a recording studio — is unlikely to open any time soon, if at all, its tenant Willie Colins told the Sacramento Bee.
“There's no business there anymore,” Mr. Colins said. “This is a memorial.”
