A hail of gunfire left a man dead Monday night in downtown Stockton, and the shooting is being considered a case of self-defense, police said.
The man, whose identity has not yet been released pending notification of next of kin, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the 100 block of west Poplar Street, authorities said.
The victim, who police said was 50, was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In a post on Facebook, a neighbor said she heard gunfire around 9 p.m. Monday near a market on Poplar and north Madison Street.
“I heard about six gun shots and I didn’t think it was anything because there’s always gun shots in the area until I heard police coming,” the woman wrote. She said the shooting took place on the sidewalk near Simon Market.
“I saw them trying to perform CPR on the man,” she said.
After the shooting, officers said they located a firearm at the scene and detained a 32-year-old man, who was later released pending further investigation, Officer Omer Edhah, a spokesperson for the Stockton Police Department, said.
But without elaborating, police on Tuesday said the shooting was a result of self-defense and thus detectives would not be searching further for a suspect.
As such, the death is not being considered part of the city’s homicide count. It officially stands at two dead so far this year, compared to three at this time a year ago, officers said.