STOCKTON, Calif. — A father is heartbroken after his teen son was killed in the Stockton, California, mass shooting at a 2-year-old’s birthday party.
Patrick Peterson and his 14-year-old son Amari, along with their family, were at the party together. Amari was one of the four people killed in the shooting. Three of those four killed were children.
Police are still searching for the shooter or shooters who opened fire on the crowd Saturday, right as they were cutting the cake.
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Peterson survived the shooting and saved his daughter, who was also grazed in the shooting, but he couldn’t save his little boy.
Sacramento ABC station KXTV spoke with Peterson and his family in an emotional interview.
He called his son “the perfect gift from God,” and is now grappling with the painful memory of Amari’s final moments.
“All I can see is my son crawling on the ground and me trying to resuscitate him. He had one bullet hole right above his heart,” Peterson said.
RELATED: California family was about to cut the cake when gunfire erupted at a toddler’s birthday party
He says he still can’t understand why this happened, and the shooting replays in his mind whenever he tries to lie down.
“Every day, he would tell me, ‘Dad, I love you. Dad, I appreciate you.’ Every night, every morning that boy would tell me he loved me,” Peterson said.
Peterson described his son as a “gentle soul.”
The family says Amari was loved by many and passionate about sports, involved in football, basketball and track.
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