SACRAMENTO — Stockton crime survivors journeyed to the state Capitol Tuesday to press state leaders to “do more” on the heels of the city’s mass shooting that killed four.
“Stockton has cried long enough. Stockton has bled long enough. Stockton has buried enough sons and daughters,” said Stockton Hilliard Church Rev. William T. DeArmond Jr., his words echoing throughout the state park’s morning sounds.
“But today, Stockton speaks,” DeArmond Jr. continued as a crowd of about 30, including state Sen. Jerry McNerney and Patrick Peterson, the father of Modesto youth basketball star Amari Peterson, stood behind and hummed in agreement.
Advocates took to the halls of Capitol buildings Tuesday, seeking budget allocations to support “Stockton survivors.” The funds, if allocated, would go to a flexible cash assistance programs, stabilizing existing trauma recovery centers and free mental health services for youth affected by gun violence, according to the campaign’s lead organizing group, Californians for Safety and Justice.
“Stockton needs more than a warm hug and well wishes,” said Tashante Magaski, regional manager for Crime Survivors Speak. “Stockton needs help,”
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2026-27 state budget, released at the start of the year, goes back on state promises to provide services to survivors of crime, advocates claim. This includes a since rescinded pilot grant program, that at one point totaled nearly $50 million in bill text from state Sen. Nancy Skinner in 2022.
The grant, which was rescinded again from last year’s budget according to campaign organizers, would cover funeral costs, medical treatment and other immediate needs of survivors.
“We are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders to do more than offer condolences,” DeArmond Jr. said. “We are calling for commitments. We are calling for courage. We are calling for a budget that matches the scales of the crisis we are living through.”
Over six weeks has passed with no new public developments in the investigation into the mass shooting that killed four young people, including three school aged children, at a birthday party in north Stockton.
The last release of information from the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office, the lead agency in the investigation, came more than a week after the deadly attack, where Sheriff Patrick Withrow described “horrendous” body cam footage to the county’s Board of Supervisors. More than 50 shots from at least five firearms were fired from multiple masked gunmen, Withrow had also shared.
As the case remains unsolved — with no arrest records and distinct suspect information having yet to be released by authorities — advocates like Tinisch Hollins told Stocktonia that focus on the shooting is “falling off the radar.”
“This issue of public safety is a flash point,” said Hollins, executive director for Californians for Safety and Justice. “There’s a tragedy that happens, and then they go back to business as usual. But violence is still occurring in Stockton.”
At a time when the state is setting its budget, Stockton and its survivors of violent crime need to be made a priority, Hollins said.
“A month later, two months later, six months later, the survivors and the entire city [of Stockton] will continue to deal with the aftermath of this without getting the resources that they need to heal,” Hollins said. “And, unfortunately, the cycle of violence will continue.”
Since the Thanksgiving weekend shooting, Stockton has documented at least 10 shootings, according to city and county incident reports, including multiple deadly crimes right before the end of the year. Some incidents, like in the fatal shooting of one of the birthday party’s guests, Emmanuel J. Lopez, has been labeled “possibly gang-related” by police but “isolated.”
The sheriff’s office has yet to confirm if gangs were involved in the birthday party shooting, despite speculation from public officials, like Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi, and rumors online.
In a conversation with Stocktonia after the news conference, Hollins said she believes public empathy and response from authorities would have been “very different” had there not been gang speculations about the shooting.
“We shouldn’t have to imagine safer communities,” Hollins said to the gathered crowd. “We all want the same thing — to live, to raise our families and to heal without fear.”
Just blocks from the Capitol park, Stockton organizers huddled inside the office of Willie J. Armstrong, chief of staff to state Sen. Laura Richardson, who chairs a senate budget subcommittee that reviews items related to public safety.
Organizers would testify to several staffers like Armstrong on Tuesday, soliciting help for a city that they say “is suffering.”
“This meeting was more like a briefing, to give them a picture of what it is that we’re asking for,” Ed Little, government affairs manager with Californians for Safety and Justice, told Stocktonia.
“But [it’s] also to give context,” added Little, who had facilitated some of the meetings. “To hear from survivors, on the ground, who have direct experience with the issue that we’re addressing.”
Even just $34 million would keep existing trauma recovering centers afloat, Little said.
“It would be a tragedy — that is really putting it lightly,” said Little if resources for survivors in the state budget remain unfunded.
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