Families in Stockton are searching for answers after a mass shooting at a birthday party on Saturday night left four people dead, including three children. The FBI has announced a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
Patrick Peterson of Modesto lost his 14-year-old son, Amari, in the attack. Peterson’s 9-year-old daughter was also injured but managed to escape by running out a back door and climbing a fence. “I can’t live with the fact that I couldn’t save my son,” Peterson said. He described trying to help his son before paramedics arrived and rushed Amari to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
“I can’t believe I’m talking about my son in the past tense,” Peterson told The Bee from his home in Modesto. “I have all these pictures of him, smiling,” he said before breaking down. “I feel so hurt. I feel so bad. I just want my baby back. It’s going to hurt me to the core.”
The shooting took place at a banquet hall on Lucile Avenue in Stockton during a child’s birthday celebration attended by more than 100 people. Authorities report that along with Amari, an 8-year-old elementary school student from Stockton Unified School District and another 9-year-old were killed.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that one of the victims of last night’s tragic mass shooting was a Stockton Unified School District student,” district Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said in a statement. “As educators we hurt deeply anytime a child is hurt. We hold this student’s family in our hearts, and we grieve alongside them and our entire community.”
A 21-year-old man named Susano Archuleta was also killed; his brother Emmanuel Lopez told media outlets that Archuleta died at the scene after being shot in the neck. Lopez’s own 9-year-old daughter was among those wounded but survived after being shot in the head.
Roscoe Brown from Stockton’s Office of Violence Prevention confirmed that the party honored his brother’s granddaughter who turned two years old.
Former mayor Michael Tubbs identified Jasmine Delafosse as one of the wounded; she is reportedly a close friend of Tubbs and posted video from her hospital bed following treatment.
Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi expressed grief over the incident: “I could not sleep last night. I lay there in disbelief about what these families, these children, and our entire community went through,” she wrote on Facebook Sunday. She called it “a cowardly, terrorist act.”
The shooter or shooters remain unidentified as local authorities urge anyone with information to come forward. The FBI is offering up to $50,000 for tips leading to arrests related to any aspect of planning or execution involved in this crime.
Photos or videos related to the incident can be submitted at fbi.gov/stocktonshooting, while tips may also be phoned into San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office at 209-946-0600.
