Family members were gathered to celebrate a toddler’s birthday when a burst of gunfire erupted inside a bustling banquet hall in California over the weekend. The joyous occasion quickly turned into chaos as shots rang out amid the festivities.

“At first, I thought the sound was just balloons popping, but it was actually gunshots,” recounted Patrice Williams, the mother of the birthday girl.

Williams’ daughter, who was celebrating her second birthday, emerged unharmed from the frightening ordeal. However, Williams shared with The Associated Press on Monday that the shooting injured her sister, a cousin, and three of her friends during the Saturday evening event in Stockton.

Tragically, the shooting claimed the lives of three children, aged eight, nine, and 14, as well as a 21-year-old, in a hall filled with at least 100 people, according to San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow. Investigators suspect that the gunfire extended outside and involved multiple shooters.

In total, eleven individuals were wounded, with at least one person in critical condition, Withrow reported. As of now, no suspects have been apprehended.

Sadness and remorse for the victims and their families

Williams said partygoers who had gathered around the cake dropped to the ground the moment the gunshots rang out.

“It was just unexpected. I don’t know what happened, and I’m just so shocked and lost,” Williams said.

She expressed remorse for the mothers who lost their children.

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.

“They deserve to be in jail. They deserve to go to hell,” Williams said.

“I’m sorry, but I just … it’s not respectable. It’s a kids’ party.”

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.

Sheriff’s office believes the shooting was targeted

The sheriff urged anyone with information to contact his office with tips, cellphone video or witness accounts.

“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.

“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.”

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”.

‘Who would come and do that to some kids?’

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.

“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.”

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.

“Who would come and do that to some kids, you know?” Brown told AP after a Sunday afternoon vigil organised by faith leaders.

“You can’t shoot up a party. That’s senseless. A kid’s party, at that.”

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.

“The only mistake this sweet boy made was being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the account said.

“He was simply being a kid at a kids’ party.”

Emmanuel Lopez told the Los Angeles Times 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.

Rhodesia Ransom, a Democratic state assembly member representing Stockton, said “we cannot normalise this tragedy”.

“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.

Stockton records a lot of violent crime

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

She expressed anguish over the loss of victims so young.

“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.