BREAKING: At least 4 dead, 10 injured after mass shooting at child…See more

By the time officers arrived, the cake was untouched, candles unlit, plates still stacked in a neat, hopeful pile. The only thing broken was everything else: plastic cups crushed under boots, gifts ripped open in the scramble, a child’s special day forever marked by the sound of shots and the sight of people they loved collapsing beside them. Families huddled on the curb, wrapped in blankets, faces streaked with tears and disbelief, waiting for names to be called, for news they weren’t ready to hear.

In the hours that followed, Stockton became a city holding its breath. Hospitals filled with the wounded. Detectives replayed shaky surveillance footage frame by frame. Neighbors left flowers at a fence still taped with birthday decorations. And in one small home, a child who should have been blowing out candles was instead left to grow up knowing their party became the night everything changed.