Nov. 30 (UPI) — Three children and one adult were killed Saturday evening in a shooting that erupted at a Stockton, Calif., banquet hall, authorities said Sunday.
The shooting occurred shortly before 6 p.m. PST at a child’s birthday party near the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue, in Stockton, a city of roughly 322,000 people located about 83 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Fifteen people were confirmed shot, including the four deceased, identified only by age: an 8-year-old, a 9-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 21-year-old. As least one of the other 11 victims was in critical condition, according to authorities.
“We’ve had our team on the scene processing it for the past 21 hours, and while that was going on, we were actively following all the leads that we have, looking for witness statements, asking anyone to give us any video that they might have of this incident and following every lead that we have at this time,” San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow told reporters Sunday afternoon at a press conference.
“We will find these animals that did this and bring them to justice.”
Withrow said authorities believe multiple shooters entered the banquet hall and opened fire, though they are still investigating if there was more than one shooter involved.
He said while the shooting began inside the hall, it continued outside.
As of Sunday evening, no arrests have been made in the shooting.
On Saturday, Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi suggested it was gang-related.
In the Sunday press conference, Withrow explained that while Fugazi’s comments were “well intentioned” they were premature.
“At this time, our investigation, as you know, is very early on, so we are not going to say one thing or specifically another thing until we’ve gone through all our evidence,” he said.
“We’re confident this is not a random act. They walked into this area and was probably looking for somebody in particular. Why they did that, what they’re part of, who they are, we don’t know,” he said.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved.
Fugazi said she is matching the reward with another $10,000 and Councilwoman Mariela Ponce contributed $5,000, for a total reward of $25,000.
“Let me be very clear to anyone who hides, shields or harbors these terrorists: you are putting yourself at risk of having your door kicked in, your home raided and being arrested for aiding and abetting,” she said in a Sunday statement. “If you protect them, you become part of this. And you will face the consequences.”
According to The Gun Violence Archive, there have been 380 mass shootings involving four or more gunshot victims so far this year.