Michael Mello Sr. ID'd as north Stockton man shot in year's 38th homicide
Neighbors of 44-year-old Michael Mello Sr. say they are grasping for answers after the well-known resident of Kelley Drive in north Stockton was gunned down on the sidewalk Sunday evening.
“He grew up in this neighborhood,” said Tre Thomas, as he placed a sign Monday morning that read, “Long Live Big Mike” on the hood of a black Honda SUV where, according to Thomas, Mello lived.
“Everybody knew Mike,” he said.
Thomas said he was at home around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when he heard shots "like a machine gun" ring out in the neighborhood on Kelley Road, northwest of Swenson Park.
Around the same time, and roughly a block to the east, a woman possibly in her late 30s knocked on the front door of a neighbor's home saying she had to call 911, said a resident who asked not to be named due to safety concerns.
The woman said she’d been walking with a man and that “her and the guy [had] started running after hearing shots,” according to the resident.
She said the man was hit, but the woman didn't appear to be injured, the resident said.
By about 7:45 p.m., Kelley Drive resident Daisy Ochoa noticed police lights flashing outside her home's windows, she said.
When she and her family peered outside 15 minutes later, they saw a figure draped in a sheet laying on the sidewalk at the corner of Plymouth and Kelley, Ochoa said.
A Big Gulp-type cup and what may have been a box were on the ground nearby, she said.
Mello often walked the few blocks to shop at a Quik Stop near Plymouth and Ben Holt, Thomas said.
Roughly two blocks west of where Mello was killed, 20 white chalk circles resembling those police investigators use to mark where shell casings have fallen were visible on the street pavement Monday morning.
In addition to going to the Quik Stop, Mello often spent time gathering cans and visiting Thomas’s home on the same court where Mello parked his car, his friend said.
“We’d feed him, we’d take care of him,” Thomas said of himself and his neighbors. He’d recently given Mello a toothbrush and other hygiene products, he said.
“He ain’t got no enemies,” Thomas said. “People would steal from his car, but that’s it.”
The 44-year-old's death marks at least the second fatal shooting along the stretch of Plymouth north of Benjamin Holt this year. A 19-year-old was killed at the intersection in broad daylight on Feb. 2.
Mello’s death marks the 38th homicide in Stockton this year.
In addition to Mello, a woman was hospitalized for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, police said in a statement Monday. The department released no information about suspects or possible motives.
A spokesperson for the county medical examiner confirmed Monday morning that the person killed was Mello.
By about 10 a.m. Monday, someone had used gray paint to cover the pavement where Mello died.
Thomas said he plans to hold a vigil at his friend's car.
Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Michael Mello Sr. ID'd as Stockton man shot in year's 38th homicide
