4 killed, 11 injured in shooting at child's birthday party in Stockton, California

Three children and an adult were killed, with 11 others injured, following a shooting at a California banquet hall where a family was hosting a child's birthday party Saturday night, authorities said.

The local sheriff characterized it as a particularly callous and brutal crime: People went to a child's birthday party Saturday night and opened fire, killing victims ages 8, 9, 14 and 21.

"These animals walked in and shot children at a children's birthday party, and none of us should stand for that," Patrick Withrow, the sheriff of San Joaquin County, California, said at a news conference Sunday.

An additional 11 people were hospitalized after gunfire erupted shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday at a banquet hall on the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue in Stockton.

At least one of them was in critical condition Sunday, Withrow said, with conditions for the others unavailable.

Withrow said shell casings and rounds from the scene, including firearms discovered on a rooftop, were still being processed for conclusive evidence. But so far, he said, "there appears to be multiple shooters."