STOCKTON, Calif. — Stockton Police Department launched an investigation after a 57-year-old man was allegedly shot and killed near Stockton's downtown district Sunday morning, marking the city's 37th homicide in 2022.
"There is a lot of contributing factors to what has conditioned our mind to believe that it's just acceptable to pull the trigger," said Toni McNeil, lead organizer for Faith In The Valley. "The community, I feel, like is almost feeling hopeless like at their wits ends."
The recent string of shootings has left many residents fearing for their own safety and wondering if there's a solution to the problem. McNeil is calling the disturbing upward trend in fatal shootings an epidemic. McNeil said feelings of hopelessness, anger and frustration are coming to head and causing the uptick in violence.
"Community organizations are just thinking outside of the box trying to come up with different original ideas in what we can do and how we can allocate for resources," she said. "Our federal government is leaning in, our state government is leaning in."
In addition to receiving funding for additional resources, McNeil says faith leaders, clergy and community members need to once again gather on a monthly basis to pray and rally for the city — one of the things she attributes to Stockton's drastic decrease in violence in 2013 following a record-setting deadly year in 2012.
"I believe that our community is in desperate need of prayer and intercession," McNeil said. "We need to wrap our arms around parents and children with love, with hope, with encouragement with life. This is all hands on deck."
Although many residents in Stockton have felt hopeless in recent months, Faith In The Valley is partnering up with community organizations, city leaders and law enforcement to develop potential solutions, according to McNeil.
"We're about to call a meeting in order for us to figure out what do we need to do in order to restore hope for a generation that has lost it and is angry and crying out for help," she said. "I'm going to have hope left until there is no more breath in my body. I will not lose hope on this city, on our youth, on the families."
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