Months after a mass shooting inside a toddler’s birthday party in Stockton left four people dead and at least 13 others injured, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s officials say they anticipate “putting handcuffs on people” in the next month or two.
In a video posted to social media Wednesday, Sheriff Patrick Withrow said investigators are in the final stretch of analyzing evidence before turning the case over to prosecutors.
“Very, very pleased with the way that direction of that investigation is going,” Withrow said. “ We should have results here in just a couple of months.”
Investigators are finishing compiling the case’s digital evidence, such as video surveillance, into a written report that will be given to the SJ County District Attorney’s Office, Withrow said.
“Once they figure out what they have and all that,” said Withrow, referencing the district attorney’s office, “That’s the time we’ll start putting handcuffs on people.”
Sheriff’s spokesperson Heather Brent, clarified in a phone call with Stocktonia that the process would take “one to two months.”
Just before 6 p.m. on Nov. 29, masked shooters reportedly entered an event center in north Stockton where at least 100 people had gathered for a 2-year-old’s birthday party.
In the months following the attack, few details have been released to the public aside from witness accounts.
Officials say the the shooters, dressed in dark clothing and face coverings, fired multiple rounds into the family gathering, killing three school-aged children and a young adult.
In a briefing to the county’s Board of Supervisors days after the shooting, Withrow said that more than 50 shots were fired from at least five guns.
The public’s latest update came in early February, where the sheriff’s office described its recovery of two vehicles linked to the shooting: a silver sedan and a white Honda. Investigators at the time said the vehicles were undergoing DNA processing.
Authorities, since the start of their investigation, have described the shooting as a “targeted attack.”
Days following the shooting, family and friends identified those killed as 8-year-old cousins Maya Lupian and Journey Rose Reotutar Guerrero, Modesto youth basketball star Amari Peterson, 14, and Susano Archuleta, 21, who witnesses say had rushed to protect others when the shots rang out.
Brent said the investigation is “taking a while” because of its large volume of surveillance and digital evidence, adding that the sheriff’s department, the lead agency on the case, remains as “all hands on deck.”
“(It) comes down to ensuring that we have all of the proper evidence that when it does go to trial that people are held accountable,” she said. “We want to make sure that no stone is left unturned.”
Withrow, dismissing online “naysayers” and criticism about his department’s handling of the investigation, said the investigation is proceeding as planned.
“This is going exactly the way we wanted it to,” said Withrow. “We’re going to get the ones responsible.”