STOCKTON, Calif. — A 12-year-old girl is in critical condition after being shot in Stockton late Saturday night.
Stockton Police said that a 17-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were shot at around 10:30 p.m. in the Civic District, near Buena Vista Avenue and West Flora Street.
Police said in a post on Facebook that the suspect fled after shooting the victims. After officers arrived at the shooting scene, both victims were taken to a local hospital to be treated for their injuries.
The 17-year-old boy is stable, while the 12-year-old girl is in critical condition, according to Stockton Police.
On Sunday, Stockton police said the alleged shooter was behind bars after the double shooting. Tyrone Franklin, 18, was arrested on an attempted homicide charge and weapon charges.
“Our youth, they have no outlet,” said Toni McNeil, a community organizer with Faith in the Valley, a nonprofit organization that works to help those impacted by issues of equity. “They can’t come together in school, they can’t come together in sports, they can’t come together in group counselling.”
Focusing on young people is one of McNeil’s priorities. She said more responsive and preventative organizing is needed in communities statewide to address what she calls a pandemic within a pandemic.
“We’ve got to get our community involved and we need to provide resources for the people that are directly impacted,” McNeil said. “For the mothers of these victims, and of both sides—we need to allow them to be a part of the solution. We need formerly incarcerated individuals that have the language and the problem solving skills. We need to get resources to them to get them involved."
McNeil said there’s often villainizing and criminalizing when it comes to teen-involved violence but no real problem solving.
“So, when you say a 12-year-old child was shot, I think about my 10-year-old grandchild,” she said. “I make sure I take a picture of someone that’s that age and I have to then, as a community member, not allow myself to put an adult behavior, an adult reasoning- I can’t see your face as a 12-year-old.”
Ultimately, McNeil said that another headline of violence in Stockton is not just another headline.
“It’s not another teen that was shot,” McNeil said. “It’s not another statistic. It’s not another number. A mother is sitting somewhere in tears and trauma, in deep pain and anguish because they possibly could lose their child.”
Detectives are investigating the shooting. If anyone has information on the shooting, call Stockton Police.
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