An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified which defendant has been previously released on parole in May 2024. He was Luciano Guerrero.

The man who hosted a Stockton birthday party where four, including three children, were killed over the Thanksgiving weekend, was denied bail for a parole violation that prosecutors say led to the deadly tragedy. 

Appearing before state court Thursday, Stockton-based rapper Luciano Guerrero was arrested Dec. 1 by parole officers for being in “contact” with gang members at the family gathering. According to parole documents, a joint investigation by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, Stockton Police Department and FBI determined that multiple “gang sets” were present at the time of the shooting. 

The courtroom gallery was filled with a throng of spectators Thursday, including Guerrero’s family sitting just a few feet away from the prosecution. Guerrero, dressed in bright orange jump suit and shackled, stood calmly behind a half-partitioned wall as Deputy District Attorney Patricia Horner laid some of the blame of the Nov. 29 tragedy on his alleged parole violation. 

Horner told the court the rapper had known who would be in attendance of his party, which included gang members. 

“Perhaps, had Mr. Guerrero not thrown this party,” Horner said. “We wouldn’t be in the situation that we’re in today.”

Horner did not respond to Stocktonia’s request to clarify if the DA’s office blames Guerrero for the mass shooting at his 2-year-old daughter’s birthday. 

The sheriff’s office, the lead agency in the shooting investigation, has yet to publicly connect the shooting to gang activity, despite suggestions from officials such as Mayor Christina Fugazi and District Attorney Ron Freitas. 

Guerrero’s court-appointed public defender, Frederick Phillip Krueger, asked Judge Chrishna M. Martinez to release Guerrero during the Thursday morning hearing. Guerrero was previously released on parole in May 2024 after serving more than seven months of a two-year prison sentence for carrying a loaded firearm as an active street gang member, according to parole documents. 

As a parolee, Guerrero had reportedly attended required appearances before the court in relation to his felony charge. 

In October 2024, the DA then filed a 13-count complaint against Guerrero alleging he’d been in possession of assault weapons, including an AR rifle and machine gun and ammunition in association with a criminal street gang. The complaint also alleged Guerrero assaulted with a firearm an unnamed woman with whom he had a relationship. 

Because of his previous parole violations, including those from the October 2024 complaint, Horner described Guerrero as a “public safety risk,” urging the judge to order him be held without bail. In California, a person is often not entitled to bail while their parole violation is under review. 

Krueger said he was still “in the dark” about aspects of Guerrero’s alleged parole violation in relation to hosting a child’s birthday party. 

“He’s only here because he threw a birthday party,” Krueger said at the morning hearing. “Another human being, not Mr. Guerrero, essentially tried to shoot up and murder several numbers of Mr. Guerrero’s family.” 

Family have previously questioned why officials’ have focused on Guerrero and another defendant, Billy Williams, instead of finding those who fired into the party. Both Guerrero and Williams attended the north Stockton party, where 100 to 150 people had gathered at an event space on Lucile Avenue off Thornton Road. 

“All these … kids, dead at my birthday party, and now y’all are gonna sit here and take my brother?” Patrice Williams, mother of the 2-year-old birthday girl, had told reporters outside the county courthouse just days after the shooting. 

William hesitates admitting parole violation

Williams, 25, who admitted to his parole violation before the superior court the previous day, will serve 180 days in jail. 

Williams is uncle to Guerrero’s daughter. He was arrested Dec. 1 outside the San Joaquin County courthouse, while his family, just steps away, spoke with reporters. 

In August, Williams agreed to parole conditions, including not to “enter or loiter within 300 feet” of places frequented by children without written permission from his parole officer. On Dec. 1, Williams’ parole agent, Long Moua, “received information” that Williams had been at the banquet hall during his niece’s party, according to a parole violation report. 

SPD officer Ruben Rillon had reportedly “observed [Williams] in the area” after the shooting, but it’s unclear how Moua knew he’d attended the event. 

Williams initially pleaded “no contest” to the charges when asked by Judge Martinez Williams. But eventually changed his mind.   

Defense attorney Douglas Srulowitz, attributed Williams’ hesitation to pleading guilty as his client being “confused.” 

“I think he wants to get on with his life,” Srulowitz said, adding that Williams was in “no way” involved in the shooting or had a relationship to the shooters

“He wants to put this stuff behind him … move forward,” Srulowitz said. “He was a victim just as anybody else was.” 

Guerrero’s unrelated gang affiliations

According to parole documents, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in late 2023 documented Guerrero as a “self-admitted member of the Sureños, a gang loosely affiliated with the Mexican Mafia, a Mexican-American prison gang. Stockton Police also documented Guerrero as a member of two other Stockton-based gangs, Asian Boyz and Muddy Boyz. 

Guerrero’s August parole agreement forbade contact or association with any person affiliated with a street gang. 

Parole documents state that police reports from the night of the mass shooting say Stockton Police Department officers “observed [Guerrero] and a documented ‘Flyboy’ gang member nearby,” though the filing did not identify the alleged gang member as Williams. 

A GPS tracking device worn by Guerrero as part of his parole  indicated he’d been at the location of the children’s party for approximately five and a half hours, from 2 p.m. to just before 8 p.m, according to court documents. The device had also tracked Guerrero across the street from the event venue for approximately 23 minutes following the shooting and subsequent law enforcement response. 

Despite parole documents indicating local law enforcement determined that “multiple gang members were present at the event,” officials have yet to publicly accuse anyone, including Guerrero or Williams, of being involved in the shooting. 

Guerrero is scheduled to be back in court Jan. 5.