‘Sweet boy’, 14, killed in Stockton taking pictures tragedy was making faculty plans
The atrocity is being described as ‘an unimaginable tragedy’ by the family of Amari Peterson, who loved football and basketball and was ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’
Amari Peterson, a 14-year-old boy who loved football and basketball and was making plans to go to college, has been named by his family as one of the victims of the Stockton shooting tragedy.
His devastated aunt Aresha Mosley wrote on a GoFundMe page, was in the “wrong place at the wrong time”, when he was one of three children killed at a two-year-old’s birthday party in California. A 21-year-old man was also killed at the gathering, attended by more than 100 friends and family members, with police still hunting the gunman or gunmen,
Amari Peterson’s relatives have branded the horror as “an unimaginable tragedy” as they struggle to process the mass shooting at the banquet hall in Stockton, California. Bullets flew just as the group prepared to slice the birthday cake, according to the birthday girl’s mum. It remains unclear whether tragic Amari was connected to the toddler, or simply a family friend.
His aunt, Aresha Mosley, penned on a GoFundMe page created as a memorial to Amari and to assist with funeral expenses. She said the teenager was a “sweet” lad passionate about sport.
“Amari was a football player, a basketball player, a brother, son, and cousin,” the post says. “He was making plans and looking into colleges of choice… The only mistake this sweet boy made was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was simply being a kid at a kids’ party.”
The birthday girl sustained injuries in the carnage whilst 11 people were hurt. Amari was amongst four who died, including two additional children as young as eight, reports the Mirror.
Officers have urged the public to come forward with information to help track down the shooter – or shooters – and confirmed they would welcome even rumours. Ms Mosley expressed her family’s desperate need for answers.
She stated: “No parent should ever have to bury their child. No family should ever go from planning birthdays to planning funerals… Right now, Amari’s parents and loved ones need support, strength, and love – as a community and as human beings.”
She portrayed Amari, an accomplished baseball player, as “a bright, loved, and promising young soul whose life was taken far too soon by a senseless act of violence”.
Photographs of the boy were also shared on the public website, including snaps of Amari playing sports, and one of the boy alongside relatives. More than $21,000 (£16,000) has been raised so far to help the family cover funeral costs. To donate, click this link.
Speaking in the wake of the horror, the birthday girl’s mum, Patrice Williams, said: “It was just unexpected. I don’t know what happened, and I’m just so shocked and lost… They deserve to be in jail. They deserve to go to hell.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
