Patrice Williams thought she was hearing the pops of balloons she had inflated earlier as she gathered with friends and family for cake to celebrate her daughter turning two. But the loud bursts ringing through the banquet hall were actually the sounds of gunshots that ultimately killed four guests at the birthday party she had thrown.
"I don't know what happened, and I'm just so shocked and lost," Ms Williams told the Associated Press.
The mass shooting in Stockton, California, over the weekend killed three children aged 8, 9 and 14, and a 21 year-old, authorities said. Eleven others were injured, one critically, in the shooting where about 100 guests were celebrating.
Ms Williams' other daughter, a cousin and three of her friends were among those shot while party goers gathered around a cake, she told the AP.
Others were about to sit down for dinner in the banquet hall when the shooter - or shooters - entered with an automatic weapon. Authorities believe the attack may have been targeted.
