Stolen Pickup Hits Car, Killing 4 in Stockton

STOCKTON — The teenage driver of a stolen pickup sped through a stop sign while trying to flee police Tuesday, striking a car and killing a woman and three teenage girls, the Highway Patrol said.

A Stockton Unified School District officer saw the red truck peel rubber and pass several cars on the wrong side of the street outside Franklin High School as school was being dismissed Tuesday afternoon, said Officer Derrek Brackett.

The district officer started to follow the truck, which ran several stop signs, he said.

At the Main Street stop sign, the truck slammed broadside into a car carrying a woman, her two daughters and another girl, Brackett said.

The victims were identified as Bernice Martinez, 43, of Stockton, her daughters Ashley, 14, and Christina, 16, and Desiree Guzman, 14, of Stockton, he said. The three girls were Franklin students.

The pickup driver, Jamal Howard, 18, of Stockton, was arrested on suspicion of murder and auto theft, Brackett said. The pickup had been reported stolen Monday in Livermore.

Three female passengers were also in the pickup. One was taken to a Stockton hospital with major injuries and the other two were not hurt, he said.