The deadly mass shooting at a toddler’s birthday in California took place just as the child was cutting cake, her mother told the New York Post.
“I actually thought it was my balloons popping. It was gunshots,” Patrice Williams said while describing the incident at the banquet hall in Stockton on Saturday (November 29). “It was just unexpected. I don’t know what happened, and I’m just so shocked and lost.”
Three children ages 8, 9 and 14, and a 21-year-old were killed, while 11 others were injured, including one person in critical condition, during the shooting. Police have identified the 14-year-old victim as Amari Peterson and the 21-year-old victim as Susano Archuleta.
Williams, whose daughter wasn’t injured, said she didn’t get a good look at the shooter and can’t imagine someone targeting a child’s party.
“They deserve to be in jail. They deserve to go to hell,” she told the New York Post. “I’m sorry, but I just … it’s not respectable. It’s a kids’ party.”
Authorities haven’t yet identified any suspects in connection with the mass shooting but believe the incident was gang-related. Gunfire was reported at a banquet hall just prior to 6:00 p.m. local time, according to San Joaquin County Sheriff’s spokesperson Heather Brent, who characterized the event taking place at the time as a family celebration, which Stockton Vice Mayor Jason Lee initially revealed was a children’s birthday party in a statement shared on his Facebook account.
“As Vice Mayor of Stockton — and as someone who grew up in this community — I am devastated and angry to learn about the mass shooting at a child’s birthday party,” Lee wrote. “A birthday party should never be a place where families fear for their lives.”
Recent Comments