At vigil, coaches, teammates mourn Modesto teen killed in Stockton shooting
Coaches, teammates, classmates and friends of Amari Peterson gathered at Whitmore Park in Ceres on Tuesday evening to honor the 14-year-old’s memory and mourn him with a candlelit vigil.
Some mourners held posters of Amari in jerseys and athletics uniforms, with the “Forever 14” written on them. Others wore bandanas bearing his name.
His coaches from the Ceres Jr. Bulldogs football program stood together to share their memories of Amari and their heartbreak.
The young teen was one of four people killed, including three children, in a mass shooting Nov. 29 at a toddler’s birthday party at a Stockton banquet hall.
“We won’t see him at our games. But in spirit, he will be there. These are our kids. And they’re dying from gun violence. There has to be justice,” Jr. Bulldogs President Joe Estrada said. “We come to honor the little life that he lived. Fourteen years. Just turned 14. Forever 14.”
An eighth-grade student at Modesto’s Prescott Junior High and an avid athlete who played football, basketball and more, Amari was nicknamed “Ferrari Mari.”
“My goodness, Amari was fast, so fast. I understand exactly why his dad called him Ferrari,” team mom Carol Grimes said at the vigil. “He was driven, focused and full of potential. A winner in every sense of the word.”
Estrada shared that it was important to Amari to be able to support his family one day. He added that the Bulldogs will honor Amari’s memory by wearing his jersey number when the season starts next year. Amari wore the numbers 33 and 5, one of which will be chosen by his family for his teammates to honor him.
Estrada’s daughter Janessa put together a slideshow of photos from Amari’s life and painted some of the posters at the vigil. She said that while looking at his face as she painted, she broke down several times.
“It was heartbreaking, but I’m glad we did this for him and for the youth, and for our community to come out here and be this big; it was very nice,” Janessa Estrada said.
Umar Muriset, who coached with Amari’s father, Patrick, and is close with the Peterson family, said there are some special people God put on this Earth, and Amari was one of them.
“Every time you were around him, you felt the energy, the upliftingness, and his smile lifted you up,” Muriset said. “His smile brightened everybody up.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "At vigil, coaches, teammates mourn Modesto teen killed in Stockton shooting."
