June has been a deadly month in Stockton.
Two new homicides came just hours apart this week — one Sunday afternoon and the other early Monday.
The first slaying occurred about 5 p.m. Sunday in the 9500 block of Kelley Drive in Stockton’s Bear Creek District, police said. Officers found a 25-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound. The man was taken to a local hospital, where he died, authorities said.
The second death was also a fatal shooting. Police said they found an 18-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound and lying on the ground in the 400 block of west Weber Avenue in the Civic District. He, too, was rushed to a hospital, where he died, officials said.
The names of both victims are being withheld pending notification of next of kin by the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Detectives are investigating both killings. No information about possible suspects or motives has been released.
After a dip in homicides during the first five months of the year, an especially deadly June has Stockton closing the gap on the number of reported slayings compared to this time last year.
To date, there have been 14 homicides in the city this year, according to police records. During the same span last year, there were 18 homicides.
There have been at least five shooting deaths this month in Stockton, police reports show.
On June 4, a man was found fatally shot on the railroad tracks near Anderson Street and Interstate 5. The victim was later identified as Khalid Lisimba Lanier, 43, of Stockton.
The following week, another pair of back-to-back shootings left two people dead. On June 13, police found a 16-year-old boy shot to death inside a vehicle that crashed into a tree on Hickock Court. The teen was identified as Valentino Mark Gilmore of Stockton.
About 24 hours later, officers responded to another shooting. Antioch resident Ceasar Raasann Ammons Sr., 53, was shot by “a known suspect” after an argument in the 2100 block of Battlement Drive, Stockton police said. Ammons was shot in the leg and rushed to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries, authorities said.