Jessie Hilliard Jr., 19, a male who was Black / African American, was found shot on Memorial Day, May 26, 2025, on the 300 block of South San Joaquin Street in Stockton and was pronounced dead at the scene alongside 27-year-old Antwane Perkins after officers arrived around 4:45 p.m. in response to reports of gunfire. The San Joaquin County Medical Examiner identified both men two days later, confirming the time and place of the attack in central Stockton.
Police believed an armed assailant might still be inside the building and called in a SWAT team to sweep the premises, but no suspects were located during that immediate search.
The killing of Jessie Hilliard Jr., 19, drew a broad investigative response that stretched into June. Detectives initially detained multiple people for questioning at the scene, though no arrests were made that day as they worked the area near Sonora and Lafayette streets by the Crosstown Freeway for leads and evidence.
Within weeks, Stockton police publicly tied the case to a larger gang-focused operation. On June 13, during a press conference about “Operation White Noise,” authorities announced that 19-year-old Devontae Holmes had been charged in connection with the double homicide that left Jessie Hilliard Jr., 19, dead. Coverage of the announcement noted the case’s inclusion in the multi-agency crackdown and identified Holmes as a suspect linked to the Memorial Day killings.
A week later, investigators—working with the U.S. Marshals Task Force—arrested a second suspect, a 16-year-old boy, and booked him into San Joaquin County Juvenile Hall on homicide charges stemming from the same shooting that killed Jessie Hilliard Jr., 19. Police said the teen’s arrest followed nearly a month of investigation after the Memorial Day attack, marking the second major development in the case since the operation’s June briefing.
As the investigation advanced, local reporting continued to situate the arrests against the broader sweep of “Operation White Noise,” which authorities said netted guns, arrests, and suspects tied to multiple killings, including the slayings of Jessie Hilliard Jr., 19, and Antwane Perkins. Subsequent updates reiterated the shooting’s time and location and that both victims were pronounced dead at the scene, underscoring the swift violence that ended a holiday afternoon and the sustained police effort to piece together what happened and who was responsible.
