Stockton shooting leaves 17-year-old boy dead, police say
STOCKTON – One teenager has died and another was hurt in a shooting late Wednesday night in Stockton, police say.
Stockton police say officers responded near Lafayette and San Joaquin streets a little after 10 p.m. to investigate reports of a person shot.
Officers found two shooting victims, both 17-year-old boys.
The teens were taken to the hospital, but police say one of the boys later died. He has since been identified by the San Joaquin County coroner as Stockton resident Isaic Aromin-Quintoa. The other boy's injuries are said to be life-threatening, police say.
Detectives are now investigating the circumstances of the shooting.
Aromin-Quintoa is the third 17-year-old to be shot and killed in Stockton just this year.
While Stockton is making strides to reduce crime, some crime prevention groups that focus on youth say the city needs more help.
The young ages are alarming, but it's especially disheartening for Nuri Muhammed.
"Normally, people think if they have a quiet night and nobody got shot for a day or two, they think nothing is going on, and that's a misnomer. It's because people were working," Muhammed said.
He's worked with the nonprofit violence prevention group Advance Peace Stockton for seven years. He's seen the violence come and stay in the city.
So what does Muhammed say is the reason for these violent shootings of teens??
"Access to weapons, don't have opportunities for employment, no GED, they have families, don't feel safe in their neighborhoods," he responded.
Muhammed says that with every shooting, things can get worse.
"For every homicide that happens, we consider it like a 1 to 4. Normally, the first incident happens, but we don't see the stuff that happens because of that," he said.
Right now, while Advance Peace Stockton is trying to prevent these shootings, the money to do so has run out.
Muhammed says that for three weeks already, they've lost their state funding.
"They're just volunteers right now, so a little dismay and some anxiety because there's a lot of work that is out on the street that someone needs to be engaged in," he said.
He hopes that soon, the city can step in to save the program or even inherit it into their gun violence prevention programs.
"What you can do is make sure you have a strong outreach and get to those people who are at the center of driving gun violence and try to inspire them to make better choices," said Muhammed.
This is the ninth overall homicide so far this year in Stockton, compared to 14 this time last year.
Stockton police say they are looking into a motive but say this was not just a random shooting.
