On the evening of November 29, 2025, families gathered at Monkey Space, a banquet hall at 1955 Lucile Avenue in unincorporated San Joaquin County just north of Stockton city limits. The occasion was a second birthday for a little girl named Nalayah. There were balloons, a cake waiting to be cut, a swan-shaped bounce house, children in party clothes, and roughly 80 to 150 relatives and friends packed into a space that had once been a children’s theater.
What should have been an ordinary Saturday celebration ended in one of the region’s most shocking acts of gun violence in years. Gunfire erupted inside the hall around 6 p.m., just as guests were preparing to cut the cake. Four people were killed: 8-year-olds Maya Lupian and Journey Rose Reotutar Guerrero, 14-year-old Amari Peterson, and 21-year-old Susano Archuleta. Thirteen others were wounded. Some of the injured were children. The 2-year-old birthday girl was not among the dead.
The attack is believed to have been targeted. Investigators have said known gang members were present. At least five guns were used and more than 50 shell casings were recovered. Detectives believe shooting continued outside the building and that more than one person may have fired. No one has been arrested for the killings. A reward that later grew to $130,000 has not produced an arrest.
How the evening broke apart
Patrice Williams, the birthday girl’s mother, later told reporters she first thought the noise was balloons popping. Then the room dissolved. Parents grabbed children. Guests dropped to the floor or ran. Some tried to stop bleeding with whatever was at hand. Others fled over fences and down shaded lanes. Blood trailed across the floor and out into the parking area. Toys and party decorations were left where they fell.
Neighbors and people in nearby businesses heard the gunfire. Some initially mistook it for fireworks. Within minutes it was clear it was not. San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputies reached the area in about four minutes. Hospitals received a surge of patients. Emergency staff went into triage. Several victims were in critical condition in the first hours. Two additional people later sought treatment on their own, raising the official count of people struck by gunfire.
The scene the next day was grim. Family members returned to collect belongings and confront the wreckage: bullet holes in doors and walls, a blood-soaked pink unicorn, a melted cup of ice cream still labeled for Nalayah’s second birthday. Photographers documented what guests had fled. The images circulated widely. They made the abstract numbers concrete.
Who was killed
Maya Lupian, 8, was a third-grader at Aspire Apex Academy. Journey Rose Reotutar Guerrero, also 8, was a third-grader at Commodore Stockton Skills School. Amari Peterson, 14, of Modesto, played football and basketball and was described by his father, Patrick Peterson, as “the perfect gift from God.” In the days after the shooting, Peterson said he did not want to question God, but that losing his son had left him “questioning everything about life.” Susano Archuleta, 21, of Stockton, died at the scene; a friend later said he was shot in the neck. Families identified the dead as officials completed notifications. Schools confirmed the two 8-year-old girls had been their students.
The wounded included children. One 9-year-old girl was shot in the head and survived. Local rapper MBNel (Johnel Dongon) and his wife were among those shot; his father said the family was in hiding afterward. Officials have not released a full public list of the injured. Hospitals cited privacy and family notification.
The investigation
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office leads the case because the venue sits just outside Stockton city limits. Stockton police, the FBI, and the ATF have assisted, including with evidence response and digital forensics. Sheriff Patrick Withrow has said the shooting appeared targeted and that the broader public was not believed to be in immediate danger. He has also said investigators cannot yet say whether gang affiliation was the motive, even though gang members were at the party. “We cannot determine whether this is gang related or not,” he told reporters. “Obviously, we know that there were known gang members at this party, but we do not know whether that was the reason or the motive of this shooting.”
Five firearms and more than 50 rounds do not automatically mean five shooters; officials have been careful on that point. Vehicles of interest were later publicized. Two men who attended the party were later held on parole-related matters, not as accused shooters. Months afterward, the case remained unsolved. Authorities have asked anyone with doorbell video, phone footage, or other recordings to come forward and have warned against rumor. Motive, the number of shooters, and whether the weapons have all been recovered remain officially unanswered in public statements.
A city already familiar with violence
Stockton has long lived with high rates of violent crime. In 2024 the city recorded thousands of violent offenses, well above the statewide rate. Residents are used to hearing about gang shootings. What they were not used to was children being cut down at a toddler’s birthday party. Vice Mayor Jason Lee and others said the event tested even a community accustomed to loss. Mayor Christina Fugazi and other officials described the attack in terms of gang violence while urging residents to help investigators rather than speculate.
The location itself mattered. Monkey Space was booked in person for a family event advertised in part on social media. It sat in a small commercial cluster near Thornton Road, not in a private backyard. That fact undercut early descriptions of a quiet residential cookout. The party was indoors, crowded, and scheduled into the early evening. When the shooting started, there were few places to hide that were not in the line of fire.
Children, trauma, and the weeks after
Because so many children were present, schools moved quickly. Districts offered counseling. Some events were postponed. Parents were told to watch for sleep problems, fear of loud noises, clinginess, and sudden changes in mood. Child psychologists note that violence in a setting that is supposed to feel safe—a birthday, a family hall, balloons and cake—can shake a child’s basic sense that the world is predictable. Adults at the party described the same rupture: one moment they were holding a niece or watching kids play; the next they were covering bodies or running.
Community response was immediate. People brought water, food, and rides to hospitals. Clergy and volunteers gathered at community centers. A candlelight vigil at Weber Point drew residents, the mayor, and school leaders. Flowers, notes, and stuffed animals piled up near the hall. Fundraisers appeared for funeral costs and medical bills. The gestures did not answer the central questions, but they marked a refusal to treat the dead as only a statistic.
What remains unfinished
As of later official updates, the shooters had not been publicly identified or taken into custody. Investigators continued to process forensics, interview witnesses, and follow vehicle and video leads. City and county leaders promised more briefings as facts could be confirmed. Counseling remained available for families, witnesses, students, and first responders.
The larger argument this shooting joins is familiar: how a city with entrenched gang conflict, easy access to multiple firearms, and crowded private events can keep children from becoming collateral. National tallies of mass shootings at gatherings have risen over the past decade. Local officials talk about enforcement, prevention, mental health, and community intervention at the same time. None of those debates changes what happened inside Monkey Space on a Saturday in late November: a cake that was never cut, four funerals, and a room full of people who will measure time in before and after the gunfire.
Stockton’s story after this attack is not only the unsolved case. It is also parents who scooped up children and ran, neighbors who applied pressure to wounds, deputies who arrived in minutes, and a city that has had to explain, again, why a birthday party was not safe. Details will keep arriving as the investigation allows. The names of the dead are already known. The work of accountability and of helping the children who survived has only begun.
