By Madeline Shannon
The Center Square

In the days after the deadly Nov. 29 shooting in Stockton, the Northern California community is trying to pull together, local representatives told The Center Square this week.

The shooting killed three children and a 21-year-old at a child’s birthday party, attended by 100 or more people. Another 11 people were injured during the shooting in the city of more than 300,000 people east of San Francisco.

“I think right now, not only are people grieving, but they are actually concerned for the community,” Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, D-Stockton, told The Center Square. “There’s a lot of frustration, there’s a lot of serious concern about people’s safety, because people don’t want to be the next casualty in something they are not part of.”

Vigils and memorials for the four victims killed during the shooting have been held since Sunday, Ransom told The Center Square.

And local law enforcement have been encouraging members of the community to come forward with any information about the shooting. Stockton Crime Stoppers is offering an $80,000 reward for information that leads to arrests of suspects. People can provide anonymous tips by calling 209-946-0600 or visiting stocktoncrimestoppers.org, where they can leave a tip directly or download a Crime Stoppers app to do so.

Officials with Stockton Crime Stoppers were not available for comment on Friday.

“Right now, we’re trying to understand and solve this incident that took place so that we can get justice,” Ransom said.

No suspects have been arrested. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said the shooting, which started around 6 p.m. Saturday, was likely a targeted attack and may have involved multiple shooters.

“It’s a tragic incident that has not occurred in our community previously, and it’s been tough for the community dealing with this, especially given the circumstances of children being involved,” Lt. Andrew Theodore of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office told The Center Square on Friday. “The investigation is still active, as it was a large scene with a lot of people involved. Our detectives continue to work the investigative leads that they have to try to put all the pieces together.”

Theodore added that some of those leads could include information about suspects, but could not answer questions about potential suspects.

While a violent crime, the shooting isn’t as much of a gun problem as much as it is a “people problem,” Ransom told The Center Square. “We don’t even know about the proliferation of the guns that are out there, but we also have a people problem. We have a generational violent issue that has plagued certain parts of the community for a very long time.”

Gang and violence prevention could play a role in reducing violent crimes like this, as well as laws that promote accountability, Ransom said.

“We need to make sure we’re not creating loopholes,” Ransom told The Center Square. “I’m all about restorative justice and making sure we’re not throwing away people, but ultimately, we have to keep the community safe first. That is the No. 1 priority, and we need to prioritize that in our legislation to make sure we are deterring folks from even doing something like this.”

Organizations that have previously spoken out about gun legislation and gun violence, including the National Rifle Association and the pro-gun laws organization Everytown for Gun Safety, did not respond to The Center Square’s requests for comment.

Officials with San Joaquin County Behavioral Health Services said they are offering their help to the community if anyone needs support during this difficult time. Those services are also offered to local schools.

“We’re actually really fortunate in Stockton and in San Joaquin County where our schools have very robust mental health services already embedded,” Fay Vieira, director of San Joaquin County Behavioral Health Services, told The Center Square on Friday. “Ultimately, they reported their teams had a good handle on the situation, and given that I’m very familiar with their mental health teams, I believe that they are very strong clinicians with a lot of experience working with children. I was not at all surprised to hear that they were well-equipped to handle a stressful situation.”

“Stockton is resilient,” Vieira noted. “The people who live in Stockton have gone through a lot, but the community is strong, and I know they’re going to heal together. My hope is that the community comes together and they can grow and heal together.”

Representatives from the Stockton Unified School District and the Stockton Police Department couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

But in a statement Monday, Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden called the shooting “heartbreaking beyond measure.”

“The individuals who opened fire on a child’s birthday party showed no humanity,” McFadden said in a news release on Facebook. “That is evil, and we will not allow that kind of evil to go unanswered in Stockton. Our staff is working around the clock, and we are coordinating closely with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Every tip and every piece of information we receive is immediately relayed to the Sheriff’s investigative team so it can be acted upon without delay.”

Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi and the City Manager’s office did not respond to The Center Square’s requests for comment. The California Department of Justice, which has been assisting local law enforcement in the shooting investigation, did not respond to calls and emails before deadline on Friday. U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Stockton, also did not respond to requests for comment.

According to a 2023 report from the California Department of Justice, the state has reduced homicide rates over the last 30 years. In 2022, California had the seventh lowest death rate by gun in the country, according to that report, and California’s gun homicide rate was 45% below the rate recorded in the rest of the country. A Johns Hopkins University report found California had 1,427 gun homicides and that the overall gun death rate increased by 8% between 2014 to 2023, although that includes gun deaths that are not classified as homicides.

As previously reported by The Center Square, California Attorney General Rob Bonta credited the state’s laws requiring background checks and a 10-day “cooling off” period during gun purchases, as well as bans on assault weapons and magazines, for helping to bring down mortality rates.