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The local hospitals were quickly placed on trauma alert as a fleet of ambulances tore through the Stockton streets. The medical teams faced a logistical and emotional nightmare as the injured began to arrive, many of them still wearing party hats or festive clothing now stained with the reality of the afternoon’s events. Families huddled in waiting rooms, their faces masked with the pale, hollow look of shock, waiting for updates on loved ones who were in critical condition. The air in the trauma center was thick with a heavy silence, broken only by the occasional sob of a relative receiving news that no parent or grandparent should ever have to hear.
