Four people died in a shooting near Stockton, California. The online edition of USA Today reports it. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. About ten injured people were transported to local hospitals. Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Heather Brent confirmed the deaths of four people and reported that minors were among the victims. The gunshots exploded in a room where a family was probably celebrating a birthday.
Officers responded to the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue, near a Dairy Queen, and found shooting victims in the parking lot, as well as a large number of people panicking and screaming. The victims were all inside the banquet hall at the time of the shooting.
Ambulances transported some of the victims, while others arrived at the hospital on their own, including two men who entered St. Joseph’s Medical Center with gunshot wounds. The toll, at the moment, is four dead and at least 10 injured. “Tonight, my heart is heavy in a way that is hard to put into words,” Stockton Deputy Mayor Jason Lee said in a statement posted on Facebook. “I am in contact with staff and public safety authorities to understand exactly what happened and will push for answers,” he continued. In his statement, Lee said the shooting occurred during a child’s birthday party.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said on social media that the state Office of Emergency Services was monitoring “the evolving situation and coordinating with local law enforcement.” The Stockton shooting occurred just days after a deliberate attack on Wednesday in the federal capital, Washington, D.C., where a 29-year-old Afghan citizen, a refugee in the United States since 2021, killed a young National Guard soldier and seriously wounded a second. With more guns in circulation than people, the United States has the highest gun death rate of any developed country.
Gun homicides are a recurring plague that no government has so far managed to contain. In 2024, excluding suicides, at least 16,700 people were killed by firearms. Since the assassination last September of Charlie Kirk, a popular influencer among young conservatives and Trump supporters, the US has been deeply polarized, which is why observers also fear an increase in politically motivated gun violence.