Details are beginning to emerge about the victims of a shooting at a child’s birthday party in Stockton, California, that left four people dead and at least 11 injured over the weekend.
The dead included children aged eight, nine and 14 and a 21-year-old man, who were shot at a banquet hall in the Central Valley city where they had gathered with at least 100 others to celebrate a two-year-old boy’s birthday.
Authorities have not yet publicly announced the identities of any of the victims. But family members of eight-year-old Maya Lupyan, Amari Peterson, 14, and Susano Archuleta, 21, have confirmed that their loved ones have died in the shooting.
The violence shocked the city of 320,000 people, located about 80 miles (130 km) east of San Francisco. Police are continuing to search for suspects and have said it may be a targeted incident. Detectives believe multiple shooters may be involved and are working on suspect descriptions.
San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Heather Brent said investigators welcome any information, “even rumors.”
Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi has said the violence was gang-related, but investigators have not publicly confirmed whether that is the case.
On Saturday evening, when the people attending the party were preparing to cut the cake, firing took place and people had to run away.
“I just heard gunshots and then the shooter came in,” Amari’s father, Patrick Peterson, told ABC10. “I turned my back, and I looked at him and I just started watching him shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.”
Amari Peterson was shot just above the heart, and her sister was hit by a bullet, her father said. “I can see my son crawling on the ground and I’m trying to revive him,” the elder Peterson said.
Loved ones said in the GoFundMe that the teen was a “bright, beloved and promising young soul” who played football and basketball. “He was not involved in any gang activity. The only mistake this sweet boy made was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was just being a kid at a children’s party.”
Eight-year-old Maya Lupyan was identified as one of the victims on a GoFundMe started by her sister. He would have celebrated his ninth birthday later this month, with his sister describing him as “the friendliest eight-year-old I have ever met”.
“She was a third-grade student at Aspire Apex Academy, where she excelled in her academics and extracurricular activities,” the GoFundMe says. “She loved dancing, singing, and painting. She was a purple belt in karate, and she loved being active. Maya was the light in everyone’s life, the sweetest soul.
“She deserved a childhood full of laughter, school days, karate, time with family and dreams…not these.”
The family of 21-year-old Susano Archuleta confirmed that he died after being shot in the neck while attending a friend’s daughter’s party on Saturday. Her brother, Emmanuel Lopez, told the Los Angeles Times that Archuleta “died in my arms”.
Archuleta was “full of life and energy,” Lopez said.
Activist Jasmine Delafosse was also among those injured in the shooting.
“(DelaFoose) has been a longtime anti-violence advocate in the city who has dedicated her life to making Stockton safer for everyone. So she’s a little surprised,” former city mayor Michael Tubbs told the Sacramento Bee. “She’s in deep grief because she saw those kids, as she called them, murdered right next to her, right around her.”
The Stockton shooting was the nation’s 17th mass killing this year, the lowest number recorded since 2006, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA TODAY in partnership with Northeastern University. But experts say the decline may represent a return to average levels of mass killings after an unusual increase in 2018 and 2019.
The Associated Press contributed
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