STOCKTON, Calif. — Three shootings ended with three people killed and three others hurt in Stockton Saturday.
"The last 24 hours have been challenging, and so it's a testament to how hard we're working," said Stockton Police Department spokesman David Scott. Scott says that extra detectives were called in over the weekend to help investigate the sudden surge in shootings.
The first happened around 1 a.m. Saturday on Wood Duck Circle at Quail Lakes Drive where police found a man dead from a gunshot wound inside a crashed car.
Another 35-year-old man was found shot to death in his car on Jackson Street near Wilson Way around 3 p.m.
Minutes apart, just after 2:30 p.m., gunfire erupted between multiple groups on Astor Drive. Medics took a 50-year-old man from the scene to the hospital. Two 19-year-old women showed up at the hospital too, one of them was listed in critical condition.
"While officers were on scene conducting that shooting investigation, deputies from the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office located a possible vehicle involved in that incident and a pursuit ensued," said Scott. "There were multiple occupants in that vehicle; they were all detained."
Scott says the detainees are not currently considered suspects in the shooting.
The chase came to an end on Harding Way at California Street, feet away from St. Joseph's Medical Center. There was still shattered glass and car pieces scattered around the roadway and sidewalk in the area Sunday.
Authorities said one of the 19-year-old men who was inside of that car later died at a hospital.
"We really need the community's assistance to help our detectives to get some of these answers," said Scott. "With some of these being in the afternoon hours, it's crucial for us to get that information."
In pastor Leon Scoggins' Life City Church, speaking up was also the message Sunday with no arrests made in any of the cases yet.
"It's your nephews, it's your aunties, it's your people that are out there and you have a responsibility to make sure you are speaking to your children," said Scoggins during a sermon.
For Scoggins, speaking up also means coming together and spreading positivity, work he says his church is doing.
"Just last weekend, we did a free gas giveaway to our community to show people that there is a more positive way to live life," said Scoggins. "Every organization has a responsibility to work together, to come together with different resources."
Despite the violent weekend, Stockton police have reported 13 homicides so far in 2024, six fewer cases than were reported at the same time in 2023. Investigators do not believe that any of the weekend homicide cases are connected.
"This is something that we're going to have to get through together," said Scott. His detectives are asking witnesses or anyone with information on the cases to call them at 209-937-8377.
Stockton Crime Stoppers is also offering anonymity and cash rewards for information that leads to an arrest. Crime Stoppers can be reached at 209-946-0600.
The weekend of violence left the community with plenty of prayers and a call for unity Sunday.
"You can be doing the right thing and still be affected by violence," said Scoggins. "We are definitely keeping all those families that have been affected in prayer."
Watch more from ABC10: 1 dead, 3 taken to hospital in Stockton shootout
