AN INTERESTING DAY IN STOCKTON

By Bob Walsh

This last Saturday (06-04) was an interesting one in the crime-ridden and gang-infested city of Stockton, leaving one dead and several injured.

A man standing in the front yard of a home on Delhi Street was shot by an (alleged) stranger who (allegedly) simply walked up to him and started blasting, hitting him twice. He was at someone else’s house so you don’t know if he was the intended target or not. He was “unable” to provide a description of the shooting, even though it was still daylight at 19:45 when it went down.

Just after dark on the same day, a man beat up his sister and stabbed his mother and sister with a pair of scissors. The cops brought him down with a bean-bag gun and hauled his happy ass away. I expect that there was some mental illness issues or substance abuse, or both, involved in this incident.

Around midnight the local constabulary was called to St. Joseph’s hospital due to a man showing up with a gunshot wound. He was “unable” to tell the cops where he was when he got shot, who shot him, or any of the circumstances surrounding the situation.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, a man was shot in the face while driving along Colt Drive near Hickock Drive. His injuries are not life-threatening.

Just before sunrise on Sunday, a man was shot in the legal near Pacific Ave along Glendora, apparently part of an argument over a stolen car. They actually have an ID on the shooter on this one.

There were also a couple of stabbings but they are hardly worth mentioning.

The fatality was somewhat unusual, but not wildly so. The Sheriff’s Office was called by a neighbor about 1545 hrs to report a man being attacked by a pit bull in a yard next to Franklin High School. The mauling victim, Earl W. Stephens Jr. 43, was bleeding badly from dog bite wounds. The deputies had to shoot the pit bull to get to Stephens, who died at a local hospital. Two puppies were removed by animal control. They also participated in the attack. Stephens was visiting the owner of the dogs when the attack occurred.

EDITOR'S NOTE: That's like an hour in Houston, and better yet, 10 minutes in Chicago.