STOCKTON (CBS13) – It was a crime that had neighbors shocked in a city that is no stranger to crime. Now an ice cream man is amazingly alive and recovering.

“I feel very lucky, because I am alive here. I still have a life, you know,” said Mohammad Rafique.

Lucky may be an under statement. Rafique survived gunshots to the arm and neck.

It was three months ago, almost to the day, when Rafique was in a fight for his life, in and out of consciousness and bleeding out in his ice cream truck.

“They both have guns and they shoot me same time,” said Rafique.

Rafique, just trying to support his family, says two men, identified by police as Ryan Edmond and Jesus Marez, pulled out a gun to rob him.

“I cooperated, I gave them the money, and ice creams and candy, and wallet, everything,” said Rafique.

Then the gunfire; a bullet hit Rafique’s spine, immediately paralyzing the ice cream vendor.

“I never thought I’d move my hands and legs, you know,” said Rafique.

After a month in the hospital, Rafique was moved to Wagner Heights Rehab Facility in Stockton and while he can’t walk yet, he is now able to sit up.

“I feel arms, I can eat. I move my arms and I come here, and they doing a good job,” said Rafique.

Rafique’s therapist is inspired and amazed by his recovery.

“He’s able to feed himself now. He helps get him dressed too,” said Vivian Chua.

Rafique’s family is getting him through the pain and healing.

As for the two accused of nearly taking his life, he doesn’t hold on to the anger but to gratitude. After all, he isn’t just a victim, he’s a survivor.

“I’m very lucky, I’m very happy,” said Rafique.

Rafique will likely be at Wagner Heights for more than a month to come until he’s ready to go home.

Both Marez and Edmond are charged with attempted murder. Police say there could be more arrests.

The shooting happened just after 7:00 a.m. at a home in the 2100 block of Shimizu Drive. The young girl and 21-year-old woman were sleeping in the family room when the shots rang out.

They were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening wounds.

Police say the suspect or suspects fired multiple rounds from an area near the Smith Canal levee.

The bullets blasted through the front window of the home, the front door and wall. Police say more than 40 bullets hit the home.

Witnesses saw an older model white car leaving the area.

No arrests have been made. The names of the victims have not been released.

Emergency crews were called to parking lot near a group of taco trucks on Hunter Street and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard around 8:30 p.m. Thursday night.

They found the man on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.

The victim’s name has not been released.

No arrests have been made.

STOCKTON (CBS13) — Investigators are searching for witnesses and trying to piece together clues in the murder of a Stockton taxi driver who was found dead early Sunday morning.

The Stockton Police Department said officers found 44-year-old Luis Palma unresponsive in the driver’s seat of his taxi near Lincoln Street and Washington Street at about 1:44 a.m., shortly after receiving a report of gunshots in the area.

Palma was pronounced dead at the scene.

Stockton Police Officer Pete Smith said investigators can’t release much information on a possible motive for the crime, but added that there is no indication Palma was doing anything other than trying to pick up a fare when he was killed.

Nearby residents reported seeing four or five women and possibly one man running away from the scene shortly after the incident, but it is not clear if they are connected to the case.

Anyone with information on Palma’s death or the identities of the people seen fleeing the scene is asked to contact the Stockton Police Department at (209) 937-8323.

STOCKTON, Calif. (CBS13) – A shootout on a restaurant patio had customers and staff scrambling for cover Thursday afternoon, and police are still searching for multiple subjects believed to have been involved in the incident.

The Stockton Police Department said two men approached two customers on the patio of Nena’s Restaurant on Weber Avenue and began arguing with them and trading insults.

Witnesses said the altercation to a sudden violent turn, leading both groups of men to begin shooting at each other.

More than 30 customers and employees took cover under tables or fled the area as shots rang out, but no injuries were reported.

More than 100 students and teachers who were on an upper floor of the warehouse, at Marinello Beauty School, locked the doors and stayed away from the windows until authorities cleared the scene.

Police detained one man moments after the shooting, but released him after surveillance video showed he never fired a weapon during the incident.

Investigators have not released a description of the suspects.

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) – A 15-year-old boy has died and eight people were wounded after a shooting at a backyard birthday party in Stockton, police said Sunday.

At least one person in an adjoining backyard opened fire on a group of people attending the party around 11 p.m. Saturday, said Stockton police Lt. Jim Pickens. The teen died in a hospital around 9 a.m. Sunday.

The eight other people hit by gunfire included six adult males, one adult female and a male juvenile. Their conditions were not known.

Detectives were at the scene collecting shell cases, said Pickens. Police have not determined how many shots were fired or the number of weapons involved.

But investigators have determined that the shots were fired by a gunman, or gunmen, who went into the backyard and started shooting over a fence.

“It was not a neighbor who lived there,” said Pickens. “Somebody went into the backyard.”

Detectives have not identified any suspects, or determined a motive for the shooting.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

STOCKTON, Calif. (CBS13) – A bullet came within inches of causing serious injury or death to a girl who was sleeping in her bedroom, authorities said.

Family members heard several shots in front of their home on the 700 block of North Harrison Street just before 3:00 a.m. Thursday, but a single bullet flew into their home and ricocheted off the 12-year-old girl’s bed, landing on her pillow just a few inches from the sleeping girl.

“I think it went straight through her hair, too,” said the girl’s sister, who asked not to be identified.

Officers combed the blocks for clues on the shooter’s identity, but no arrests have been made.

The family said they hope to work with neighbors to start some form of a neighborhood watch program to deter further crime in the area.

STOCKTON, Calif. (CBS13) – Authorities are searching for a trio of teen suspects who allegedly shot a 71-year-old man during a bakery robbery.

Surveillance video shows the three young suspects, possibly as young as 14 years old, waiting near the Genova Bakery on Sierra Nevada Street for some time before holding up two employees at gunpoint early in the morning.

A 62-year-old driver obeyed their commands, but a 71-year-old man refused to comply and tried to walk inside the bakery. Video of the incident shows a suspect in a yellow hooded sweatshirt pulling out a gun and shooting the man.

All of the suspects immediately fled, authorities said.

Bakery employees said they have been hit by criminals before, but have never experienced anything as violent as a robbery-turned-shooting.

“They probably thought because of his age that they could take advantage of him,” said employee Kelly Thrush.

The Stockton Police Department said the attack is the latest in a violent crime wave that started earlier this month, leaving six people murdered in June and 16 people killed this year so far.

The murder rate is down compared to last year but overall violence has spiked, authorities said.

“We’re doing everything we can with the reduced resources available,” said Stockton Police Officer Pete Smith.

The shooting victim is expected to survive his injuries. Anyone with information on the identities of the suspects is asked to contact authorities.

STOCKTON, Calif. (CBS13) – A mother who just moved into a Stockton neighborhood was shot while bathing her child last week.

Kelley Scott said she had just finished giving her two-year-old daughter Kayla a bath when she heard a series of gunshots ring out near her apartment on Gateway Court .

When she felt the impact of a bullet in her back, her instincts kicked in and she moved to cover her daughter.

“I just felt the pain, it was burning,” Kelley said. “My sister crawled towards me and I said, ‘Check to see if I’m bleeding.’”

The bullet lost much of its speed traveling through the apartment wall and didn’t cause serious injury.

“It just wasn’t my time. It hit me and then bounced on her bed,” Kelley said. “I’m glad it hit me and not my daughter.”

The single mother said she and her sister just moved to the apartment last week and knew it was a rough neighborhood, but didn’t think random gunfire would be a threat.

No arrests have been made in the incident.

A crowd had gathered Sunday night to mourn the death of 18-year-old Bernard Daniels, who drowned in a Stockton slough near a golf course on January 12, when an unidentified gunman opened fire. As many as five shots were fired, according to witnesses.

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One of the bullets struck a young boy while he was standing next to his dad, and the suspect was able to slip away during the chaotic aftermath, witnesses said.

“Everybody was running and trying to get away,” said Ronnie Cunningham.

The boy’s family rushed him to the hospital for treatment. Relatives said the shock of the incident has given way to anger toward the gunman.

“My little cousin, that just hurts me,” said Safari Daniels. “It makes me very angry… in front of my grandma’s house?”

The boy’s parents said he is recovering well and should be released from the hospital sometime Monday night.

Police said multiple shots were fired near South Airport Way and 10th Street.

The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Check back for more details on this breaking news story.