VIOLENT CRIME IN STOCKTON
Project shows a part of life that goes unnoticed
Violent crime is a problem that is not unique to Stockton.
According to FBI statistics, Oakland, a city of nearly 425,000, had 85 homicides in 2016. Stockton, a city of 303,000, had 49 for that same period.
But, like anywhere, it resonates more here because this is where we call home.
So today, we begin an occasional series we call the Violent Crime Project.
When crime happens here, we respond. The Record covers the initial event and sometimes follows through on arrests, trials and convictions.
Sometimes during court proceedings we hear victims’ impact statements on how the crime affected their lives.
And the public watches, too, as these crimes play out.
And then, we all go away.
And the survivors of the victims of those crimes are left alone with their loss.
So we decided to get back in touch with some of those survivors, as they, too, are victims of these terrible, senseless crimes.
How else to describe murder but as senseless?
What we heard from many of them was the pain from the hole in their heart that remained years later.
It has been 10 years since Renee Garcia was hit in her arm by the bullet that killed her 13-year-old son, Aaron Kelly Jr., as they drove away from Louis Park. A pleasant day at the park turned deadly when a shooting broke out, and suddenly, they were bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time, fleeing for their lives. Also in the car were Garcia’s two daughters, who were uninjured physically but scarred emotionally as they saw their brother fatally injured. Aaron would never complete school, never become an uncle, never be there to do family things again.
Garcia would struggle with depression and attempt suicide because the pain ran so deep.
Jessica Sewell tells of how, despite her best efforts to keep her son safe, Juwan Small would be struck down while running a simple errand 2½ years ago — stopping by a friend’s house to drop off a pair of sneakers.
She loved her son. Described him as a good kid, someone who found himself in a bad situation.
Some 400 people attended his funeral. No doubt that he was well loved.
These are stories that we wanted to share with you, to bring you into the homes of the affected and forgotten.
You’ll find more online, including video interviews of Garcia, Sewell and others. You’ll also find podcasts with reporters, explaining how they went about researching and writing these stories as well as how they were impacted by this work.
Our purpose is to show a part of Stockton and a part of life that often goes unnoticed.
And, as always, let us know what you think of our work.
Contact Editor Donald W. Blount at (209) 546-8251 or dblount@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/editorblog and on Twitter @donblount.