Girl, 10, recovering after being hit by stray bullet in Stockton
STOCKTON — A 10-year-old is recovering after being shot inside her Stockton home.
It happened around 6 a.m. Wednesday on the 1200 block of Perry Avenue.
Nearly a dozen bullet holes were visible on the outside of the home, garage and car that was parked out in front. The gunfire shattered the glass of the car and flattened the tires of the car.
Stockton police said that six people were inside the home when it happened, but only the 10-year-old inside was hit by at least one bullet and sent to the hospital.
"It's scary," said Alfred Garcia, who lives near the shooting. "At first, I thought it was fireworks."
Garcia was having his early morning cup of coffee on his front porch when he went inside for a moment and then heard the shots.
"It was kind of early in the morning for somebody to be doing that," he said.
Garcia has lived in the neighborhood for 42 years but has never seen a shooting so close to home.
"It is very emotional," said Stockton police spokesperson Omer Edhah.
Edhah said they take every shooting seriously, but this one is different.
"When you have a juvenile, you got to take care of it a little bit more," he said.
Police still do not have any answers to who or why someone fired at the home.
"They don't have sense," Garcia said. "To them, life isn't nothing."
Police said the little girl is expected to survive, but community activists like Toni McNeil, who is the executive director of Concrete Development Inc., said more needs to change.
"We need to be more proactive surrounding organizing around the gun laws," McNeil said.
Her group's goal is violence intervention. They connect victims and criminals in marginalized communities to resources like therapy to create safer neighborhoods.
If you know anything about this shooting, call the Stockton Police Department.