<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Family members were getting ready to cut the cake at a toddler's birthday party when the gunfire started inside a banquet hall packed with relatives and friends at the weekend in California.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I actually thought it was my balloons popping. It was gunshots," said Patrice Williams, the birthday girl's mother.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her daughter, who turned two, was uninjured. But Williams told The Associated Press on Monday that her sister, a cousin and three of her friends were shot in the burst of gunfire on Saturday evening (Sunday AEDT) in Stockton.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Three children ages eight, nine and 14 and a 21-year-old were killed in the hall where at least 100 people were gathered, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said. Detectives believe the gunfire continued outside and there may have been multiple shooters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Eleven people were wounded, and at least one is in a critical condition, Withrow said. No one is in custody.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Sadness and remorse for the victims and their families</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Williams said partygoers who had gathered around the cake dropped to the ground the moment the gunshots rang out.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/stockton-shooting-a-california-family-was-about-to-cut-the-cake-when-gunfire-erupted-at-a-toddlers-birthday-party/b8f3c671-767f-4ec0-9703-2277c2bc3d4a" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was just unexpected. I don't know what happened, and I'm just so shocked and lost," Williams said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She expressed remorse for the mothers who lost their children.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Williams said she didn't get a look at the shooter and has no idea who would commit violence at what was supposed to be a joyous event.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They deserve to be in jail. They deserve to go to hell," Williams said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm sorry, but I just ... it's not respectable. It's a kids' party."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Williams, surrounded by family members, teared up as she said parents who plan birthday parties for their kids should consider having them indoors because of the risk of violence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Sheriff's office believes the shooting was targeted</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The sheriff urged anyone with information to contact his office with tips, cellphone video or witness accounts.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This is a time for our community to show that we will not put up with this type of behaviour, when people will just walk in and kill children," Withrow said Sunday evening. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And so if you know anything about this, you have to come forward and tell us what you know. If not, you just become complacent and think this is acceptable behavior."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sheriff's spokesperson Heather Brent has said investigators believe it was a "targeted incident". Officials did not elaborate on why authorities believe it was intentional or who might have been targeted. She said investigators would welcome any information, "even rumours".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><strong><span>'Who would come and do that to some kids?'</span></strong></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Stockton resident Carolyn Tahod, who didn't know the victims, showed up on Monday to place bouquets of flowers at a makeshift memorial with candles lit in honour of those who died.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm just the average person that has a big heart, and I have grandkids," she said. "I would be devastated if this were to happen in our family."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Roscoe Brown, who said the party was in honour of his brother's granddaughter, works for the city of Stockton's Office of Violence Prevention. Brown was in Arizona when he learned about the shooting and drove straight to the scene. He said a niece and nephew were shot, and he knows several other victims. He didn't have information about their conditions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Who would come and do that to some kids, you know?" Brown told AP after a Sunday afternoon vigil organised by faith leaders. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You can't shoot up a party. That's senseless. A kid's party, at that."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A 14-year-old boy named Amari Peterson, who played football and basketball and was making plans for college, was killed in the shooting, according to a GoFundMe account operated by his aunt, Aresha Mosley.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The only mistake this sweet boy made was being in the wrong place at the wrong time," the account said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He was simply being a kid at a kids' party."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Emmanuel Lopez told the </span><em><span>Los Angeles Times</span></em><span> his brother, 21-year-old Susano Archuleta, was shot in the neck and died at the scene. Lopez said his nine-year-old daughter was shot in the head but survived. He didn't share details about what led up to the shooting.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rhodesia Ransom, a Democratic state assembly member representing Stockton, said "we cannot normalise this tragedy".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We cannot freeze in this moment or let it pass without doing the hard work to prevent this from happening again," she said in a statement.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Stockton records a lot of violent crime</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Stockton is a city of 320,000 residents about 130 kilometres east of San Francisco. Stockton saw 3680 violent crimes in 2024, at a rate more than double the statewide rate, according to city and state data. Violent crime includes homicide, rape, assault and robbery. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The San Joaquin Valley, where Stockton is located, had the highest violent crime rate in the state in 2023, according to data from the Public Policy Institute of California.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hours after the shooting, the Stockton Police Department arrested five people, including a juvenile, on weapons and gang-related charges. There was no indication that the arrests were connected to the killings at the banquet hall, the sheriff said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It was the 17th US mass killing of the year with at least four victim fatalities, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mayor Christina Fugazi told reporters that the eight-year-old victim attended a local school and had a parent who worked for the Stockton Unified School District. The mayor said counsellors would be available this week at city schools.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She expressed anguish over the loss of victims so young.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They should be writing their Christmas lists right now. Their parents should be out shopping for them for Christmas. And to think that their lives are over. I can't even begin to imagine what these families are going through. Breaks my heart," Fugazi said on Sunday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the </span></strong></em><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727"><em><strong><span>Apple App Store</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span> and </span></strong></em><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1"><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>.</span></strong></em></div></div>