4 dead, including 3 children, in shooting at family event in Stockton

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STOCKTON — Stockton was reeling after a gunman entered a banquet hall where more than 100 people had gathered for a family event Saturday night and opened fire, killing three children and one adult and wounding 11 others.The mass shooting left people running for their lives and prompted an intense manhunt for the gunman.

Authorities asked the public for tips and surveillance footage, offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest, but said there was no threat to the community.The violence reverberated across Stockton, a Central Valley city of 300,200 that has struggled with violent crime but has worked hard to curb it in recent years.“This is Thanksgiving weekend.

This is when families come together,” said Mayor Christina Fugazi.“Stockton is better than this.”At a news conference Sunday afternoon, the mayor broke into tears, saying of the slain children: “They should be writing their Christmas lists right now.

...I can’t even begin to imagine what these families are going through.”While officials have not disclosed a motive, they suggest gang violence was involved and said they had reached out to both state and federal officials for help, including Gov.

Gavin Newsom and Sen.Adam Schiff.

Fugazi called the shooting an act of terrorism.The shooting occurred just before 6 p.m., when the sheriff’s office was flooded with 911 calls reporting a shooting, and saying children as young as 9 were bleeding, including a 15-year-old boy who was not breathing.Deputies responded to the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue near a Dairy Queen and found shooting victims in the parking lot, and a large number of people panicked and screaming.The sheriff’s preliminary investigation suggests the incident was a targeted attack, said public information officer Heather Brent.Investigators are still considering all possibilities, she said.

Witnesses described a l...