Violence prevention group plans to host peace summit with Stockton gangs, call for ceasefire
The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation out of Uvalde, Texas, is inviting rival gangs in Stockton to gather on Friday for a peace summit and to ask for a ceasefire.
It comes in the wake of the mass shooting in Stockton that killed four people, three of those children.
Authorities have still not confirmed the mass shooting was gang-related, even though that's what witnesses and community leaders are saying.
"I just don't see that you would have a 16-year-old who is banging hard who's running, doing drugs, partying and everything that comes with it, you know what I am going to come to the peace meeting," said former District Attorney for San Joaquin County Tori Verber Salazar.
Verber Salazar said gang violence is a vicious cycle, and she is concerned by a non-profit that is not from the area coming in. She said the county and City of Stockton already have a lot of local groups who know the gangs best and have developed trust and relationships with them.
"We can't look to third parties to solve our problems," Verber Salazar said. "Only Stockton can solve our problems, and we will."
The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation was founded after the Uvalde school shooting in 2022 and has been active across the country trying to stop violence since.
It confirmed the meeting is set for Friday at 9 p.m. and that multiple members from gangs have said they plan to attend.
"This process involves highly sensitive, confidential communications with a wide range of individuals necessary to achieve a unified truce, including community leaders, individuals directly involved in the cycle of violence, and faith leaders," said the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation in a statement to CBS Sacramento.
Law enforcement is not invited to the meeting, but the group said communication with law enforcement is limited to safety awareness and the group is following its own de-escalation negotiation protocols.
Both the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and Stockton Police Department had no comment on the meeting.
CBS Sacramento reached out to multiple city leaders, including some who said they knew nothing about the so-called peace summit and others who did not answer.
The group hosting the meeting claims that it is in touch with Stockton's Office of Violence Prevention, but the group had no comment about the meeting.
Multiple local faith leaders who did not want to speak publicly said they were skeptical about the bold idea.
"All of these families are forever traumatized," Verber Salazar said. "We have children who have witnessed stuff they never should have. Their childhood was taken from them, stolen from them."
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation said it will provide an update on how the meeting goes next week.