Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi says her home was struck by gunfire

By Charlie Lapastora

The Stockton Police Department is investigating a shooting that took place near Mayor Christina Fugazi’s home.

“We had heard pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. The dogs went crazy. We thought it was fireworks,” Mayor Fugazi said. “Only to find out it was actually a shooting that had occured.”

It happened Saturday morning, just before 2 a.m.. Mayor Fugazi was asleep and her husband was up when a bullet went through the front bedroom window and lodged into their bedroom wall. Nobody inside the home was hurt.

According to Stockton police spokesperson Officer David Scott, police officers responded to the 100 block of West Fremont Street, where a 17-year-old boy was shot and transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Then, a short time later, an 18-year-old young man was also taken to a hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. Officers continued the investigation to where the mayor’s home is.

Officer Scott said that there “have not been any arrests made in this case.”

Mayor Fugazi described the shooting as “a wake-up call that my conviction that public safety is the number one priority, is further solidified.”

“So that’s where I’m at, is making sure our public safety officers, our Office of Violence Prevention workers, our Operation Cease Fire, all of those things are working together in order to reduce gun violence in this city,” she said.

Mayor Fugazi’s office says investigators believe it to be a gang-related incident, unrelated to the mayor. However, Officer Scott did not confirm that.

“But that is something that detectives will be looking into to develop the motive and why the shooting took place,” he said. “Detectives will also be reviewing surveillance footage and witness statements as well in developing suspect information.”  

Mayor Fugazi said her neighbors picked up about seven bullet casings that were right next to her house. She credits her neighbors for looking out for her as she aims to look out for them, with her goal of getting every neighborhood a neighborhood watch.

“This is my city. Seven generations here. We, though, as a community, block-by-block, street-by-street, everybody deserves to live in a safe community,” Mayor Fugazi said. “And that’s what my goal is, to make sure that people aren’t falling victim to being shot, that we have a better quality of life here. And, guess what? This is a beautiful city. We just have more work to do.”

Mayor Fugazi wants law enforcement to be fully staffed, given the resources they need. On Friday, the day before the shooting, she was in Oakland with mayors from around the Bay Area to talk gun violence prevention at a forum.

She attributes the hard work of law enforcement and city leadership to “nearly a 50% reduction in crime in 2025” but she said she recognizes there’s still work that needs to be done, especially to take illegal guns out of the hands of the youth.

“I’m not leaving my neighborhood,” she said. “I’m not moving anytime soon. It goes to show that my commitment to public safety needs to elevate and I need to support our men and women of the police department even more. And I need to support our Office of Violence Prevention even more because they’re the ones that are really on the frontlines. They’re the ones that put their lives on the line each and every day. I’m a policy maker.”  

According to Officer Scott, the investigation is now in the hands of detectives.

If anyone has information on the shooting, police encourage you to call the Stockton Crime Stoppers anonymously. That number is 209-946-0600 and you could be eligible for a cash reward with information that leads to an arrest.