STOCKTON – The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation out of Uvalde, Texas, claims that it reached a “conditional truce” between the rival gangs in Stockton, but the mayor of Stockton doubts the validity of their statement.
“I don’t even know if they came to Stockton,” said Mayor of Stockton Christina Fugazi. “All I know is we are already doing the things that they are telling us to do.”
The group claims it met with rival gang members on Friday at a peace summit and reached a ceasefire. It has been actively sending out press releases, but has so far declined CBS News Sacramento’s request for an on-camera interview.
It is also now demanding that the city reject an $8 million state grant and said that its own violence intervention team is a cost-free solution.
Fugazi said this year, Stockton’s office of violence prevention met with 308 different gang members, who represented 54 different gangs, and of those, 88% were from the most active gangs.
However, those efforts did not prevent three innocent children and a 21-year-old from getting shot and killed while at a child’s birthday party.
CBS 13 asked the mayor what changes the city is making to prevent this from happening again.
“We are going to stay the course,” said Fugazi. “Of course, there is more work that needs to be done.”
This is work that she thinks can be accomplished with the $8 million grant that will help the city launch a project called REDIRECT, or the Restorative Engagement and Diversion through Incarceration Reduction, Care & Treatment. It would provide behavioral health, substance use treatment and supportive services for youth and adults at the highest risk of incarceration or violence.
“What we’re trying to do is get individuals to choose a different path, to get off the path that they are going,” Fugazi said.
She said she does not want any group to stand in the way of the progress they are trying to make locally.
“Go somewhere else,” said Fugazi. “You are not going to use this tragedy to profit off our city.”
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office put out a press release in response to the group and said it has no evidence that a peace summit happened between gangs or if a truce was reached.
“At this time, no information has been provided identifying who participated in a meeting, how any claimed agreement would be monitored, enforced, or sustained, or if any agreement was in fact made,” said the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office in the press release.
The City of Stockton gave CBS 13 this statement:
The City of Stockton has not been contacted by the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation to participate in or verify any activities they have announced. The City received press releases distributed to media outlets but no direct communication requesting engagement or partnership. The City cannot provide comment on claims we were not part of and have no means to verify. The City remains committed to its ongoing violence prevention efforts through the Office of Violence Prevention, Stockton Police Department and its established community partners.
Stockton city leaders will be voting on the $8 million grant at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
