Conditional Truce Secured In Stockton By Violence Drivers, Challenging City's Failed Approach; Ultimatum Issued Amid Political Hostility
- null null
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 19 hours ago
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRINCIPAL DRIVERS INITIALLY SECURE CONDITIONAL TRUCE IN STOCKTON, CA—THEIR ANSWER TO COMMUNITY TRAUMA—DESPITE POLITICAL HOSTILITY:
Friday, December 12, 2025
UPDATED 15 DECEMBER 2025
OUR ANSWER TO STOCKTON, CA MAYOR HERE
STOCKTON, CA – The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation (YPJF) confirmed the conclusion of its high-stakes Peace Summit. This summit was initiated as a direct response to the community trauma and immediate high risk of retaliatory violence that followed the recent, devastating mass shooting and increasing violence in the city.
In an extraordinary act of moral courage, the Principal Driver groups involved have unilaterally initiated a conditional "Epiphany Truce," effective immediately.
This agreement represents a massive moral victory for the community but comes with an urgent warning: the Truce is temporary and conditional. The Principal Driver groups stated they would hold violence in abeyance to save lives, restore order, and ensure members return to long-standing traditions regarding who is involved and what is off-limits in gang conflict.
The Principal Drivers Deliver Peace Under Institutional Apathy
The Principal Drivers have fulfilled the hardest part of the agreement, securing an immediate ceasefire that will save lives and re-establish a foundation of internal order.
However, they confirmed that the lack of institutional support and inconsistencies in available programming and opportunities overall have made a full, long-term Group Violence Intervention (GVI) partnership impossible at this time.
Ceasefire Duration:
The Conditional Truce is in effect from 11:59 PM PST, Friday, December 12, 2025, through 11:59 PM PST, Friday, January 2, 2026..
During the summit, the Principal Drivers specifically applauded law enforcement for not quickly stating that the recent mass shooting was gang-related, noting that the attack was, in fact, not sanctioned by anyone present and violated the internal codes of all groups involved.
Specific Agreements and Restored Conflict Traditions
As an immediate result of the dialogue, the Principal Drivers made the following binding commitments to reduce indiscriminate public harm:
Neutral Zones:
Schools and Community Centers are immediately designated as neutral, off-limits zones for all conflict engagement.
Non-Combatants:
Individuals not actively involved in the conflict (including family members, partners, and children) are strictly off-limits and not targets for retaliation or violence.
Method of Engagement:
All "drive-by" or indiscriminate vehicular shootings are suspended during the conditional period. Future, limited conflict, should it occur, must strictly adhere to traditional, direct engagement methods among combatants only.
Zero Tolerance for Unsanctioned Attacks:
The Truce applies strictly to group-on-group conflict; however, all Principal Drivers confirmed the consensus that unsanctioned attacks, like the recent mass shooting, violate internal codes and will not be tolerated or retaliated for as part of any ongoing feud. All participating groups committed to holding their members accountable for zero homicides and non-fatal shootings targeting rival groups for the duration of the Conditional Truce.
Confidentiality Mandate:
The Foundation will not, and cannot, name the specific Principal Driver groups or individuals who attended the summit. This confidentiality is an absolute core requirement of the GVI model and is essential to secure the trust and physical safety of participants, which in turn enables the peace process to function. Without this protection, the Truce would immediately dissolve.
Financial Integrity:
The Foundation confirms that at no point has it requested, nor will it request, any funding from the City of Stockton or the OVP for its current services delivered through the Conditional Truce. The Foundation is operating on its own established funding to ensure its neutrality and ethical independence.
(The YPJF previously offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspects in the mass shooting, bringing the total cash reward from organizations and agencies to $130,000, demonstrating a commitment to justice entirely separate from this mediation.)
AnchorPoint Trauma Center:
Despite current political climate and lack of city support, the Foundation remains committed to opening the AnchorPoint Hub, dedicated to providing mental health and specialized recovery support for victims of gun violence and homicide, independent of any GVI partnership. The Hub will also serve as the Northern California chapter for the foundation.
Conflict of Institutional Roles:
The Foundation maintained strict neutrality, never requesting law enforcement intervention or safety confirmation to preserve the Drivers' trust
The YPJF confirms its future communication with law enforcement will be strictly limited to safety awareness; law enforcement was not present at the meeting and the organization is not involved in any criminal investigations related to violence in Stockton, maintaining strict adherence to GVI principles.
Despite safety awareness notification, law enforcement's complete silence and lack of any proactive follow-up or check-in—even given the known volatility and threat—underscored an attitude of institutional apathy.
Institutional Opposition Confirmed:
The Truce was initiated despite the OVP Director Lora Larson's failure to respond to the YPJF's letter regarding coordination and support. More broadly, the Foundation confirms that, following the mass shooting, it issued a public call through local media, specifically requesting the presence of a respected member of the local clergy and one recognized community leader to help build a comprehensive opportunity package.
No one from the community leadership or local service network contacted the Foundation. This failure is compounded by public poll data (Stockton Civic Engagement Survey, 2024) showing a plurality of Stockton residents (49%) believe they don't have the information needed to get involved in their community, demonstrating a deep civic engagement deficit that was not met by the city's existing efforts.
This complete lack of ecosystem engagement prevented the Foundation from being able to credibly promise the institutional backing necessary for the long-term "Opportunity."
Safety Risk from Officials:
Public comments from figures like former District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar—who stated publicly to CBS Sacramento that "We can't look to third parties to solve our problems"—and the statement from Mayor Kevin P. Johnson, who told the Sacramento Bee that "no 16-year-old will show up at a peace meeting," exposed a profound ignorance of the GVI model, which negotiates with adult decision-makers, not juveniles.
These dismissive statements were explicitly cited by the drivers as undermining the credibility of the City's eventual "Opportunity" offer.
YPJF Founder Statement:
The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation was forced to get involved following the mass shooting to halt the cycle of trauma and retaliatory death that had been all but guaranteed by the silence of the city. Today, these young men and women gave Stockton a genuine miracle—a reprieve from the violence that has plagued this city. They risked everything and stepped up where their leaders did not. We are proud of their decision, but we are not celebrating yet.
The ball is no longer in our court; it is squarely in the City's. We secured the ceasefire, but we are now in a 'wait and see' period. If Stockton's political leadership fails to match the moral courage of these drivers with institutional commitment by January 15th, they will bear the moral responsibility for any violence that resumes.
Urgent Next Steps: Ultimatum
The Foundation is immediately taking two critical actions:
Proactive Data Sharing:
The YPJF will begin sharing all Truce monitoring methodology and progress reports with the Stockton Police Department’s Crime Analysis Unit and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. We are delivering the peace data to them, regardless of their past silence.
Monitoring Conditional Truce
The Foundation will meticulously monitor the following verifiable metrics over the 21-day period to measure the success of the drivers' commitment against the City's lack of institutional support:
* Group-Involved Homicides: Tracking the number of lethal incidents within the Impact Zones, specifically those identified as inter-group or retaliatory.
* Non-Fatal Shootings (NFS): Measuring the frequency of shootings that result in injury, a primary indicator of escalating violence.
* Community Feedback Loop: Actively soliciting and compiling qualitative feedback from residents, local businesses, and neighborhood organizations within the Impact Zones to determine their view of the success or failure of the truce in terms of increased safety and perceived stability.
* Community Compliance: Tracking reported incidents of violence violating the new rules established in the "Specific Agreements" section.
The Deadline: The January 15th, 2pm GVI Status Conference/Stockton, CA
This proposed event is the FINAL DEADLINE for the City of Stockton to demonstrate political will. The Status Conference will primarily focus on reviewing and analyzing the peace data gathered during the conditional truce period, including the quantitative metrics and the qualitative Community Feedback Loop results.
Following the presentation of this verifiable success, the Foundation will call upon the City and relevant institutional stakeholders to finally match the moral commitment of the Principal Drivers by presenting a concrete plan that outlines the necessary political and financial actions to convert this Conditional Truce into a sustainable, growing and sustainable GVI partnership.
Should the City fail to present a credible commitment by this deadline, the Foundation will publicize the failure and conclude that the political environment makes a GVI partnership unviable.
A Call for Accountability
The Foundation will not compromise the integrity of the GVI model. The peace, secured by the drivers, must be protected by the institutions. The GVI model requires three committed partners , but the local partners were demonstrably apathetic or hostile.
We call upon every political actor in Stockton to attend the January 15th Status Conference and explain how they intend to match the moral commitment of the young men and women who, following the mass shooting, risked their freedom and their lives to bring temporary peace to this city.
Understanding the GVI Terminology
* Principal Drivers: These are the small number of individuals and groups whose behavior drives the majority of serious violence in a city. The GVI strategy focuses solely on engaging these specific individuals to maximize impact.
* Impact Zones: These are the highly specific, data-defined geographic areas (often just a few blocks) where the overwhelming majority of group-involved homicides and non-fatal shootings occur. The truce is designed to reduce violence within these zones..
------------------
APPENDIX: Methodology for Identifying Group-Involved Violence
The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation (YPJF) determines if an incident is "group-involved" through a rigorous, multi-source methodology required for GVI implementation, ensuring objectivity and accuracy.
The Foundation only classifies an incident as Group-Involved Violence (a violation of the Truce) if evidence from multiple sources corroborates that:
* The incident resulted in a homicide or non-fatal shooting within the defined Impact Zones.
* The victim and/or perpetrator is affiliated with a Principal Driver group.
* The Motive for the violence was to advance, retaliate for, or benefit a specific group rivalry or status.
Sources of Corroboration:
* Law Enforcement Data: Review of data shared with the SPD Crime Analysis Unit, including official classifications, victim/perpetrator profiles, and geo-spatial analysis of the incident location.
* Social Service Provider Intelligence: Reports from outreach workers and case managers who confirm the conflict's motive, distinguishing between group violence (Truce violation) and personal violence (non-Truce violation).
* Community Intelligence: Verification from local credible messengers regarding the incident's relation to an active, ongoing group feud or violation of the newly established "Restored Conflict Traditions."
Media Contact:
Jennifer West
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation
Uvalde Foundation For Kids
254-499-8027
Charity ID 88-3268749
Alternative Website: www.theuvaldefoundation.com
