Fairfield Community Mourns After Deadly Grad Shooting

On June 3, around 7:15 p.m., police responded to reports of a shooting after a graduation ceremony for Sem Yeto High School, a continuation school in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District co-located on Fairfield’s campus.

18-year-old Jamario Baker died of a gunshot wound on the scene, and three other victims — ages 11, 20 and 25 — were taken to a hospital, where they were treated for nonfatal injuries.

Murphy said the incident has shaken Fairfield. He said it seems like everyone in the fairly small community was within “six degrees of separation.”

“This should have been a graduation season. It doesn’t matter if you went to Sem Yeto or a different high school or even a junior high — [If] you have a graduating student, it’s in the back of your head as to how tragic things can turn,” he said.

Not knowing who is responsible can also make it more difficult for community members to heal, Murphy said.

Ten days after the shooting, there has not been any information released about a suspect in the case. Police said they’re interviewing hundreds of witnesses, and have asked people to share photos and videos from the graduation.

UCLA professor Ron Avi Astor, who studies school violence, said it’s atypical for so little to be known about the motive or suspect in such an incident.

The school had requested that police attend the graduation ahead of time, Fairfield police said in a statement last week. However, the request had been left as a voicemail on a line that is rarely checked, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

There have been multiple violent events on Fairfield High School’s campus in recent months — including another incident in the parking lot that escalated into gunfire in September, and a fight that led police to violently arrest a student last month.

During Friday’s ceremony, faith leaders will offer prayers and songs, and conduct a reclaiming ritual called a “moment of blessing.” The program includes calls to reject violence, and instead build a community that is “humane, compassionate and just.”

“When [gun violence] happens to our young people — in a graduation gown with a diploma in his hand — wow, that’s devastating,” acting mayor Pam Bertani said. “We lean on our faith community here in Fairfield on tough days like this.”

Murphy and a coalition of pastors formed Faith Partners Against Crime more than a decade ago to hold these rituals when gun violence occurs.

Bertani said they’ll add Baker’s photograph and name to a commemorative banner with other shooting victims.

“Hopefully, the banner doesn’t get longer, but today it will, and it will have Jamario Baker’s name on it,” she said.

KQED’s Julie Small contributed to this report.