Balloons are dropped off outside Schaefer Stadium at Fairfield High School on Thursday. An 18-year-old was killed and three others, including an 11-year-old child, were wounded Wednesday in a shooting at a graduation ceremony.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
An 18-year-old was killed and three others, including an 11-year-old child, were wounded Wednesday in a shooting at a graduation ceremony at Fairfield High School. The gunfire erupted at about 7:15 p.m. as Sem Yeto High School graduates and their families left the ceremony held at Fairfield High School’s Schafer stadium, police said.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Police said they were interviewing hundreds of potential witnesses Thursday as they searched for the person responsible for a shooting outside a high school graduation ceremony in Northern California that killed an 18-year-old and wounded three other people, including an 11-year-old child.
No arrest had been announced, and Fairfield police had not released a suspect description nearly a day after the shooting in the parking lot outside Schafer Stadium at Fairfield High School. Police said detectives were following leads but had no additional information to release.
Officer Michelle Belyea, a Fairfield police spokesperson, said at a news conference late Wednesday that investigators were still trying to determine what happened.
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“I don’t have any information related to suspects at this time,” Belyea said.
Police tape marks off a parking lot at Fairfield High School on Thursday. An 18-year-old was killed and three others, including an 11-year-old child, were wounded Wednesday in a shooting at a graduation ceremony. The gunfire erupted at about 7:15 p.m. as Sem Yeto High School graduates and their families left the ceremony held at Fairfield High School’s Schafer stadium, police said.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
The gunfire broke out about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday after a graduation ceremony for Sem Yeto High School, a continuation school in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, authorities said. Police said about 1,000 people attended the event.
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Four people were struck by gunfire, police said. Three victims — ages 11, 20 and 25 — suffered injuries that were not considered fatal. The 18-year-old died from injuries, police said.
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Police said that a rumor circulating on social media that the 11-year-old had died was false. The child was recovering at a local hospital, the department said.
The identities of the victims were not being released pending next-of-kin notification and to protect the investigation, police said. Authorities have not said whether any of the victims were students, graduates or relatives attending the ceremony.
Fairfield is about 40 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Police on Thursday continued to investigate a Wednesday evening shooting at Fairfield High School, where an 18-year-old was killed and three other people were injured after a graduation ceremony for Sem Yeto High School.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Wednesday was supposed to be a night of celebration for 18-year-old Aayokie Champaco.
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She received her high school diploma, then posed for pictures with her mother, younger siblings and other family members. During the ceremony, Champaco said, she remembered an 18-year-old she knew sitting in front of her, looking back into the crowd and smiling. She later came to believe he was the person who was fatally shot.
After the graduation ended, Champaco and her mother, Ashley Combs, were walking into the parking lot when they heard popping sounds. At first, they thought the noise was fireworks or party poppers.
Within seconds, Combs said, people were running and screaming. She realized the sounds were gunshots.
“It was terrible,” Combs said.
Combs said she saw someone on the ground, still wearing a cap and gown, as a woman performed CPR. She ran over to help, but people had already surrounded him.
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“We were all walking out of the ceremony into the parking lot, and they were at their car,” Combs said. “They were getting into their car, and that’s when it happened.”
Combs said she did not see a gun or any potential suspect.
Schaefer Stadium at Fairfield High School, where an 18-year-old was killed and three others, including an 11-year-old child, were wounded Wednesday in a shooting at a graduation ceremony for Sem Yeto High School.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Maria Ochoa had just taken a photo with her daughter, Alexis Duran, on the graduation field when they heard what sounded like firecrackers.
“I hugged her and took a picture and that’s when we heard the gunshots,” Ochoa said.
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Duran grabbed her mother’s friend and started running, but she said they did not know where to go. People nearby said the shooting had happened in the parking lot, near where they had parked.
Duran first ran toward the school, then changed direction and headed toward the tennis courts to hide.
“Everybody was so confused, it happened so quick,” Duran said. “It was too scary.”
When the scene calmed, Duran and Ochoa walked back toward their car. Duran said they saw people crying and hiding behind vehicles.
Duran said she did not know the person who was killed personally, but said they attended different campuses of the continuation school and had sometimes been on field trips together.
“It was sad,” Duran said. “It was too much, seeing everybody’s faces.”
One person was fatally shot and three others injured Wednesday in the parking lot outside Schafer Stadium at Fairfield High School, shown a day later.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Alexander Munoz attended the festivities to see his little sister graduate. Afterward, he and his family were standing by their car when they heard multiple gunshots about 20-feet away. They immediately jumped in their cars to hide.
“It happened pretty fast. All I heard was shots and people running away after that,” Munoz said.
Munoz and his family talked to police after and said investigators asked if he’d seen the suspect and whether they had seen anyone flee in a vehicle. They hadn’t.
On Thursday, Munoz said he was still in shock and disbelief. He expressed surprise that police were not at the graduation.
After the shooting, he saw family swarm one of the victims, who was lying on the ground. But Munoz said he averted his eyes because he didn’t want to see a dead body.
Classes resumed Thursday at Fairfield High School, where the campus was busy with students the morning after the shooting. The podium and chairs from Wednesday evening’s graduation ceremony remained on the field at Schafer Stadium, near where the gunfire broke out.
Some students said they were too shaken to return to class on Thursday, the final day of the school year.
Agapito De Castro, an 18-year-old senior at Fairfield High, said he came to campus only to pick up graduation tickets for Friday’s ceremony and planned to go home afterward.
“I’m really scared and my parents are scared,” De Castro said.
De Castro had planned to attend the ceremony on Wednesday since one of his friends was graduating, but he decided at the last minute to spend the evening at home with his girlfriend.
When De Castro heard about the shooting, he frantically texted his friend to make sure he was safe.
“He got back to me a few minutes later,” De Castro said. “I was praying.”
Noah Garcia, a 15-year-old freshman at Fairfield High, stood quietly at a bus stop Thursday. He said he did not attend the graduation and did not know anyone who was shot, but he was heartbroken.
Garcia said his school and teachers had not acknowledged the shooting.
“It’s sad, but I don’t know what else to say,” Garcia said. “It’s just sad, that’s all.”
News crews gather Thursday outside Fairfield High School, site of a shooting that killed an 18-year-old and injured three other people after a graduation ceremony for Sem Yeto High School.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Vice Mayor Pam Bertani said Thursday that city officials were confident police were pursuing every lead.
“It is as aggressive an investigation as we can have,” Bertani said. “It’s just devastated the city and, of course, the families who are grieving today.”
What was supposed to be “a great joyous celebration” for Sem Yeto High School had “turned into this tragedy,” she said.
Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District Superintendent Jennifer Sachs said in a statement that the district’s thoughts are with the Sem Yeto community.
Mayor Catherine Moy strongly condemned Wednesday’s violence.
“Darkness came to Fairfield and we’re going chase it back to hell,” Moy said. “The hell that people experienced yesterday — that should have been a grand celebration — will never leave them and it won’t leave me either. It will never leave me. I’m very upset.”
Moy said police were interviewing 300 witnesses to determine why the shooting occurred. She said the shooting was targeted, but it’s unclear if the victims, particularly the 18-year-old who was killed, were the targets. Moy said the other victims were in stable condition.
“I can’t give their child back and that is what kills me,” Moy said. “This is not our community. Our community is the most loving and generous and prayerful community.”
Podiums and chairs on Schaefer Stadium at Fairfield High School on Thursday, a day after an 18-year-old was killed and three others, including an 11-year-old child, were wounded in a shooting at a graduation ceremony for Sem Yeto High School.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Fairfield High School was scheduled to hold its graduation ceremony Friday at the same stadium, but officials said it has been moved to Armijo High School in Fairfield.
Police said the Vacaville Police Department, Solano County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and ATF were assisting with the response and investigation.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the Fairfield Police Investigations Tip Line at 707-428-7345 or email juneincidenttips@fairfield.ca.gov.