An 8-year-old killed during a mass shooting Saturday evening at a children’s birthday party has been identified as a Stockton Unified student, district officials said.
The district confirmed Sunday night that the youngest of the four people killed in a hail of gunfire attended an SUSD school, spokesperson Melinda Meza said in an email. No additional details have been released.
“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,” SUSD Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said in a statement late Sunday. “We hold this student’s family in our hearts, and we grieve alongside them and our entire community.”
The announcement comes less than 24 hours after multiple gunmen are said to have fired into a north Stockton banquet hall where more than 100 people were celebrating. The gun violence left four people dead — three of them children — and at least 11 others wounded in what authorities described as a “targeted incident.”
Saturday’s shooting occurred just before 6 p.m. at a banquet hall in the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue in a neighborhood just north of Hammer Lane, where 100 to 150 people had gathered to celebrate a child’s birthday, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities have not released the name of the banquet hall, but a business matching the location of the shooting recently opened at 1943 Lucile Ave. The venue, called Monkey Space, is the former home to Kudos Children’s Theatre, which closed late last year.
Initial reports indicated 14 people had been shot in the attack, four of whom died. But on Sunday, sheriff’s spokesperson Heather Brent said the number of those struck by gunfire was 15. She said the ages of those killed in the shooting were 8, 9, 14 and 21.
The San Joaquin County Medical Examiner’s Office said that at this time, it was not publicly releasing the names of those who had been shot to death.
Because the victims included children, some social media posters were calling for schools to be closed after the shooting. The Stockton Unified School District did not announce any school closures for the coming week, but did post a message online, saying, “In moments like these, may we stand together in strength, compassion, and support as our community begins to heal.”
The district will also have counselors and mental health clinicians available at all 55 school sites, officials said in a statement Sunday.
“Our community is grieving, and our hearts are with every family affected by last night’s horrific tragedy. As a school district, we stand united in compassion and resolve,” Stockton Unified Board President Kennetha Stevens said. “Our students, staff, and families deserve safety, healing, and support, and we will do everything in our power to ensure they have it.”
When asked Sunday afternoon whether any of the victims from the mass shooting were SUSD students or had family members in the district, spokesperson Melinda Meza said, “We haven’t been given the names yet, but we are preparing as it is very likely.”
Later that evening, Meza confirmed the 8-year-old victim was an SUSD student.
Most of the schools in the area where the shooting occurred are in the Lodi Unified School District.
Lodi Superintendent Neil Young described the violence as “a terrible tragedy.” It was not immediately clear whether any of the other victims are students in the district, he told Stocktonia via an emailed statement Sunday night.
“While we have not received information yet about whether or not those affected are Lodi Unified students, we know that we are all impacted by this act of violence,” Young said. “We encourage anyone who needs additional resources or support, especially with guiding children through these times, to reach out directly to your school site for help as we all grieve this tragedy together.”
Lodi Unified will provide additional counseling and mental health support on its school campuses to ensure the district’s students, families and staff “are fully supported,” he said.
No arrests have been made, and investigators have not released any information on possible suspects, authorities said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. Despite comments by city and county officials that the attack was gang-related, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said that a motive for the shooting has not yet been identified.
“We’re confident that this was not a random act. They walked into this area and were probably looking for somebody in particular,” Withrow said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. “Why they did that, what they’re part of, who they are, we don’t know.”
But the sheriff said he didn’t believe there was a reason to fear random violence. “This wasn’t some terrorist-type attack where they walked in and just wanted to kill people,” he said.
On Sunday, Mayor Christina Fugazi announced that Crime Stoppers was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the attack. The mayor said she was matching that with another $10,000, and Councilwoman Mariela Ponce was offering a $5,000 contribution, for a total reward of $25,000.
Authorities have urged anyone with potential information, especially those with video or eyewitness accounts, to call the non-emergency line of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office at (209) 468-4400 or Stockton Crime Stoppers at (209) 946-0600.
“If you see something, say something. Call the hotline, go on to the website, but please let us know any information that you have,” Fugazi told Stocktonia later in the day at a prayer vigil held for the victims.
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