<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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Parents held trembling children behind parked cars, some whispering prayers,<\/p>\n

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others frozen in disbelief as officers rushed into the bullet-riddled home.<\/p>\n

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The smell of frosting mixed with the metallic sting of blood,<\/p>\n

a scene so violently wrong that even seasoned first responders struggled to describe it.<\/p>\n

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Now, Stockton waits in a stunned, aching quiet. Hospital rooms are crowded with families bracing for news,<\/p>\n

while detectives replay grainy surveillance clips frame by frame, searching for a face, a license plate, a reason.<\/p>\n

Neighbors leave flowers and stuffed animals near the house, careful not to cross the yellow tape.<\/p>\n

A child\u2019s birthday banner still hangs in the yard, fluttering in the wind, a painful reminder of how ordinary the day was\u2014until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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