After triple shooting, Stockton police chief tells waterfront workers: 'don't wait to call'
After a shooting left one dead and two wounded at the Waterfront Warehouse in Stockton over the weekend, police visited waterfront businesses Tuesday to encourage employees to call 911 early if they witness a serious conflict.
"Don't wait to call the police until after the fact," Chief Stanley McFadden said.
The shooting happened at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday near La Vaca bar in the Waterfront Warehouse, according to police. A 41-year-old man died and a 47-year-old man and 39-year-old woman were injured, police said.
Multiple people reported the shooting, spokesman Officer Joseph Silva said, but he did not know if they included any Waterfront Warehouse employees. Police did not share details about what may have happened in the minutes leading up to the shooting.
La Vaca is closed during daytime hours and the owner could not immediately be reached for comment.
Michelle Hickman — a director at Inspire Academy barbering and cosmetology school, inside the Waterfront Warehouse — said she was glad the police visited.
"They need to be more active in our building," she said. She added that she felt safe in the building and there had not been many incidents.
A director from Community Medical Centers urged employees to call the city's new mental health response teams if they see someone acting erratically.
That could mean someone acting disoriented, depressed, intoxicated or showing psychotic behavior, or just asking for help, Alfonso Apu, CMC's behavioral health director, said. City officials launched the new program in November and the teams now respond to five to six calls a day, Apu said.
A few hours after Waterfront Warehouse incident, another man was shot early Sunday on Fremont Street near the Interstate 5 overpass. The victim drove himself to the hospital and later died, police said.
The shootings marked the city's sixth and seventh homicide cases so far in 2023.
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 at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: After shooting, Stockton police tell businesses: 'don't wait to call'
