Officer-Involved Shooting Sparks Talks On Curbing Gun Violence In Stockton
STOCKTON (CBS13) – An officer-involved shooting is sparking a conversation among Stockton residents: how can the city curb gun violence?
Investigators say the shooting happened late Saturday night after officers believed someone shot at them during an unrelated call. They returned fire. The officers later discovered a 19-year-old man nearby the shooting scene with injuries. They also uncovered a loaded gun magazine.
The officers involved were not hurt, but the man is still listed in critical but stable condition, according to department spokesperson Ofc. Joseph Silva.
The police shooting happened in the 500 block East Bianchi Road.
"We need help in Stockton," said a person living nearby the crime scene. He didn't want to disclose his name, but added that the city is "way too wild."
It remains unclear who shot the man.
But what is clear for John Norman is gun violence is a community problem.
"What we also need to look at – where are these kids or people are coming from? And what environment they live in – what they deal with in that environment?" said the founder of Raising Youth Resilience, a group that mentors at-risk children.
He explains why a young person may get lost to the streets.
"A lot of the kids that were losing them because they're not connected," Norman said.
Stockton police released gun violence statistics upon request which reports non-fatal shootings are down 33 percent compared to last year at this same time. However, fatal shootings already surpassed last 2021's total.
Norman doesn't believe the decrease in non-fatal shootings shows progress.
"If you look at the numbers, who's using those guns? Who's accessing those guns?" he said.
CBS13 asked the mayor for an interview but his office directed us to a previously released statement.
We also reached out to the city's Office of Violence Prevention but didn't hear back on our request for an interview.