Devastated families are grasping for answers after the birthday party mass shooting in Stockton on Saturday night that left four people dead, including three children. Meanwhile, the hunt for the killer — or killers — continues, with the FBI issuing a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
“I can’t live with the fact that I couldn’t save my son,” said Patrick Peterson. His 14-year-old son, Amari, of Modesto, was killed in the shooting. Peterson’s 9-year-old daughter was also injured, but escaped by fleeing out a back doorway and climbing a fence to safety, he said.
Peterson and paramedics tried desperately to save Amari’s life before the teen was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
“I can’t believe I’m talking about my son in the past tense,” Peterson told The Bee in a telephone interview from the family’s Modesto home.
“I have all these pictures of him, smiling,” he said before sobbing. “I feel so hurt. I feel so bad. I just want my baby back. It’s going to hurt me to the core.”
Amari Peterson, 14, shown in an undated family photo, was killed in the mass shooting near Stockton on Saturday. Family photo
Details continue to emerge from a shocked Stockton days after the shooting that also killed an 8-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 21-year-old, and wounded 11 others. The shooter or shooters remain at large as San Joaquin County and Stockton authorities are calling on anyone with any information to come forward.
Among the dead, an 8-year-old child identified as an elementary school student in the Stockton Unified School District, one of three children killed in the shooting at the Lucile Avenue banquet hall. Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi said a parent of the child worked in the school district, according to Bay Area News Group.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that one of the victims of last night’s tragic mass shooting was a Stockton Unified School District student,” district Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said in a statement. “As educators we hurt deeply anytime a child is hurt. We hold this student’s family in our hearts, and we grieve alongside them and our entire community.”
A 9-year-old also was killed in the Saturday shooting, according to authorities.
The 21-year-old killed in Saturday’s mass shooting at a Stockton birthday party has been identified by family members, according to news reports.
Susano Archuleta was shot in the neck and died at the scene, his brother Emmanuel Lopez, told the Los Angeles Times. Lopez’s 9-year-old daughter was also among the wounded. Lopez told the Times his daughter was shot in the head but survived.
More than 100 people had gathered at the hall in the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue in a shooting that has shaken Stockton from its neighborhoods to city government. Roscoe Brown, who works with the city’s Office of Violence Prevention, told the Associated Press that the 2-year-old girl being celebrated Saturday was his brother’s granddaughter, according to Bay Area News Group.
Former Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs confirmed one of the 11 wounded was Jasmine Delafosse, a close friend of Tubbs. Stockton website 209 Times first reported that Delafosse was among the injured.
Delafosse had posted a video on social media as she was being treated by paramedics at a hospital, 209 Times reported. Her condition was not known Monday afternoon.
“I could not sleep last night. I lay there in disbelief about what these families, these children, and our entire community went through,” Stockton mayor Christina Fugazi said in a statement to Facebook on Sunday. “The trauma they are living with is unimaginable,” she said, calling the shooting, a “cowardly, terrorist act.”
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of those responsible for the shooting, including information about any vehicles, weapons, or planning activity connected to the crimes.
People can submit photos and video captures related to the attack to fbi.gov/stocktonshooting.
Tips can be also be called in to the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office at 209-946-0600.
This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 2:17 PM.
Darrell Smith
The Sacramento Bee
Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.
