Five people are behind bars after Manteca police say they forced their way into a Tower Street home, beat the man living there, and fired a gun that lodged in an interior wall before fleeing toward Stockton. No one was struck by the bullet, but the suspects now face charges ranging from conspiracy and battery to kidnapping and, for one man, attempted murder.
According to the Manteca Police Department, officers responded to the 3100 block of Tower Street just before 1 p.m. on September 3 after reports of a shooting inside a residence. Investigators determined the suspects entered the victim’s home without consent and physically assaulted him, discharging a firearm at some point during the attack. Police say at least one of the suspects was known to the victim, and that the incident appears to have been targeted rather than random, posing no ongoing threat to the community.
The department’s Street Crimes Unit took over the investigation from there, and that’s where Manteca’s license plate reader network came into play. The city runs an 82-camera automated license plate reader system, including 69 cameras contracted through Flock Safety, positioned at intersections and high-crime corridors specifically to help track vehicles fleeing across jurisdictions, according to the Manteca Bulletin. That network reportedly logged more than 16 million scans in 2022 alone, per Atlas of Surveillance.
Flock Cameras Lead Police to a Stockton Business
Flock cameras led investigators to the suspects at a business in Stockton, the police report notes. Stockton’s own camera investment made the cross-jurisdictional pickup possible — the city accepted $963,000 in federal grant funds in November 2024 to deploy 100 Flock Safety readers of its own, per the same Atlas of Surveillance database. Later that day, Stockton Police and San Joaquin County’s AB109 Taskforce helped Manteca officers stop and arrest all five suspects…