{"id":416230,"date":"2025-12-01T01:35:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/416230\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T01:35:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:35:19","slug":"three-children-among-dead-in-shooting-at-family-event-in-stockton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/416230\/","title":{"rendered":"Three children among dead in shooting at family event in Stockton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>STOCKTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Stockton was reeling after a gunman entered a banquet hall where more than 100 people had gathered for a family event Saturday night and opened fire, killing three children and one adult and wounding 11 others. <\/p>\n<p>The mass shooting left people running for their lives and prompted an intense manhunt for the  gunman. Authorities  asked the public  for tips and surveillance footage, offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest, but said there was no threat to the community. <\/p>\n<p>The violence reverberated across Stockton, a Central Valley city of 300,200 that has struggled with violent crime but has worked hard to curb it in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is Thanksgiving weekend. This is when families come together,\u201d said  Mayor Christina Fugazi. \u201cStockton is better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At a news conference Sunday afternoon, the mayor broke into tears,  saying of the slain children: \u201cThey should be writing their Christmas lists right now. &#8230; I can\u2019t even begin to imagine what these families are going through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While officials have not disclosed a motive, they suggest gang violence was involved and said they had reached out to both state and federal officials for help, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Adam Schiff. <\/p>\n<p>Fugazi called the shooting an act of terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>           <video playsinline=\"playsinline\" loop=\"\" preload=\"none\" title=\"4 dead, including 3 children, in shooting at family event in Stockton\" data-video-id=\"0000019a-d67d-d44c-ab9b-f77d8bc20000\">               <\/video>               <img class=\"image\" alt=\"\"   width=\"473\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764552916_279_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>             <\/p>\n<ul data-element=\"action-bar-menu\" class=\"flex gap-2 list-none  absolute w-full h-10 top-0\">\n<li data-element=\"action-bar-share\" class=\"flex  w-full h-10 top-0 lg:items-center lg:justify-center \">\n<p> Share via     Close extra sharing options  <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The shooting occurred just before 6 p.m., when the sheriff\u2019s office was flooded with 911 calls reporting a shooting, and saying children as young as 9 were bleeding, including a 15-year-old boy who was not breathing.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies responded to the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue near a Dairy Queen and found shooting victims in the parking lot, and a large number of people panicked and screaming.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff\u2019s preliminary investigation suggests the incident was a targeted attack, said public information officer Heather Brent. Investigators are still considering all possibilities, she said. <\/p>\n<p>Witnesses  described a lone gunman, 5-foot-6, wearing black pants, according to police dispatches.<\/p>\n<p>Video from the aftermath shows a massive police response as  both paramedics and bystanders tended to the wounded.<\/p>\n<p>Priscilla Salas was at her boyfriend\u2019s house behind the banquet hall Saturday night when they heard several rounds from a fully automatic weapon and then pops from a handgun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was pandemonium,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Salas ran out of her house and saw ambulances converged on the scene, then watched in horror as people began to ferry out the bodies of children.<\/p>\n<p>About 10 minutes after the shooting, family members of partygoers began converging on the scene looking for their children, according to a neighbor who asked not to be named. The neighbor said the party was for a 2-year-old. He heard people crying that their children could not be found as helicopters rattled windows.<\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A photographer takes photos of evidence markers on the ground.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"761\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764552917_476_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>A crime scene photographer documents the scene of a mass shooting on Sunday. <\/p>\n<p>(Paul Kuroda \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the scene, Brent said deputies were still investigating whether multiple people fired guns during the attack. <\/p>\n<p>Ambulances  took some of the victims to the hospital, and others arrived on their own, including two men who walked into St. Joseph\u2019s Medical Center with gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday morning, the crime scene sprawled across several blocks as the region\u2019s famous tule fog blanketed the city in gray. <\/p>\n<p>So far this year, violence has slowed down in Stockton. A July report from <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/stocktonia.org\/news\/public-safety\/2025\/07\/03\/stockton-homicides-are-down-this-year-how-police-have-slowed-the-killings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stocktonia<\/a> found that homicides fell 34% in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same stretch last year, and solved cases increased. One factor could be the<a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/stocktoncrimestoppers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Stockton Crime Stoppers hotline<\/a>, which paid out $44,000 in rewards following arrests last year.<\/p>\n<p>Fugazi urged residents to call the hotline with anonymous tips about the shooter. <\/p>\n<p>The city has still dealt with a handful of violent incidents in recent years. <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-11-04\/inside-stocktons-search-for-a-serial-killer-this-persons-on-a-mission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A serial killer<\/a> terrorized the community from 2021 to 2022, and Fugazi referenced a previous mass shooting in her news conference in which three were killed and four were injured in <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-ln-driveby-shooting-stockton-3-dead-20150318-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a drive-by shooting<\/a> near a school in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Aerial view of Stockton on an overcast morning.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764552919_270_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Aerial view of  the scene of a mass shooting at a banquet hall in Stockton on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>(Paul Kuroda \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnacceptable. And what happened tonight? Unacceptable,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Roughly 150 people gathered at a prayer vigil Sunday afternoon, huddling together and holding candles in the parking lot of a Jazzercise studio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to pray for the families and also for our city,\u201d said Terry Saffold, pastor of Greater Maranatha Church of God in Christ. \u201cOur hearts are hurting.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTonight, my heart is heavy in a way that\u2019s hard to put into words,\u201d said Stockton Vice Mayor Jason Lee in a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/providence_wire\/status\/1994979515899244950\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> posted on Facebook. \u201cI am in contact with staff and public safety officials to understand exactly what happened, and I will be pushing for answers.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuns don\u2019t solve anything especially at a child\u2019s birthday party!\u201d Lynn Carver wrote on social media. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis news is so heartbreaking. Prayers for these families!\u201d Dominique Williams wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI truly wish our community could go back to the days where&#8230;crime wasn\u2019t like how it is now,\u201d Martice Lee-Rodriguez wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Gov.  Newsom\u2019s office noted on <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/govpressoffice\/status\/1994984519951421771\" target=\"_blank\">social media<\/a> that the state Office of Emergency Services was monitoring the \u201cevolving situation and coordinating with local law enforcement.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation, including the FBI. The San Joaquin County Sheriff\u2019s Department is leading the case. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STOCKTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Stockton was reeling after a gunman entered a banquet hall where more than 100 people had gathered for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":416231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[195114,129658,20165,33136,195116,47780,50,1812,3546,115592,195115,195113,6831,98600,195117,67,132,68,7307],"class_list":{"0":"post-416230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-banquet-hall","10":"tag-family-event","11":"tag-gunshot-wound","12":"tag-large-number","13":"tag-lucile-avenue","14":"tag-medical-center","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-office","17":"tag-people","18":"tag-preliminary-investigation","19":"tag-san-joaquin-county-sheriff","20":"tag-st-joseph","21":"tag-staff","22":"tag-stockton","23":"tag-targeted-attack","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-victim"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115641747227294483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}