Exclusive | Haunting images capture blood-soaked toys, bullet holes after Calif. shooting that killed 3 kids, young adult

A pink toy unicorn soaked in blood, abandoned ice cream and countless bullet holes haunt the scene of a mass shooting in a crime-ridden California city where three kids and a 21-year-old were killed Saturday.

The tragic harrowing images exclusively obtained by The Post were taken at a small business complex in Stockton where a tot was celebrating her second birthday in a banquet hall called Monkey Space before the deadly gang-tied violence erupted.

“I witnessed a woman pull up on the side of the street and just run, yelling, ‘My baby! My baby! My baby!’ ” shaken local resident Brent Terill told The Post on Monday.

A bloodied plastic unicorn from the party could later be seen laying just inches from a pool of blood left by one of the victims of the horrific massacre, which claimed the lives of three kids ages 8, 9 and 14, as well as a 21-year-old.

Along with the bloody puddles were scores of bullet holes that riddled the doors and walls of the Monkey Space, echoing the violence that also left 11 people, including more children, wounded.

A lone cup of ice-cream, now melted and bearing the words, “Nalayah’s 2nd Birthday,” was still beside the wall of the hall.

A rapper was targeted in the shooting and is now hiding out and fearing for his life after he and his wife both took bullets during the mayhem, his dad told The Post on Monday.

Rapper MBnel, whose real name is Johnel Dongon, and his spouse were wounded while at the party for his friend’s kid, said his father, Junior Dongon.

“He just came to drop off a present at his friend’s party, whose daughter was the celebrant,” Junior said of his son.

“He was shot, but he is OK. … He called me and said, ‘Don’t say anything to anybody.’

“My daughter-in-law was hit in the butt,” Junior added. “We are worried.”

Johnel, who is from Stockton, had moved out of the area two years ago because he feared for his safety, including after an incident where other thugs “shot 22 bullets” at his parents’ house a few years ago, the father said.

Terill said all hell broke loose Saturday once the sound of gunfire went off during the middle of the party.

“I heard 20 to 30 rounds, boom boom boom boom boom, back to back. A full-on blast,” the local said.

“People started running [toward[ my house. I’m hearing screaming. Screaming at the top of their lungs, and people running,” he recalled.

Now the party venue lies quiet and somber, with members of the community creating a vigil for the victims of what city officials described as “gang violence.”

As police continue to look for those responsible for the deadly shooting, with no arrests yet made as of Monday evening, Terill said the violence was nothing new for his native Stockton.

Stockton had the second highest murder rate of any California city in 2024, only behind Oakland, according to the state’s records. 

There were 51 homicides reported in Stockton last year, with a total murder rate of 15.7% per 100,000 residents.   

There have been 34 homicides in Stockton so far this year, not including last night’s mass shooting, which occurred just outside the city limits. 

Crime has run rampant in San Joaquin County as a whole, according to the Simmrin Law Group, whose 2024 analysis named the county the most dangerous in California with an average of 72 violent crimes per 1,000 residents — nearly double the statewide average.

-Additional reporting by Jared Downing in Stockton, Calif., and Zoe Hussein in NYC