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CLEARFIELD — At least four people were shot during a large house party over the weekend that involved many juveniles.
One teenage boy remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition after being shot in the throat.
The setup was right out of the movies: "My parents were out of town and I just wanted to throw a party, you know? Every teenager does that. I didn't expect it to get out of hand. I just wanted everybody to have a good time," said 16-year-old Destiny McCubbin.
She wanted the party to be like "Project X," a recently released film about three friends who throw a party while their parents are out of town. But like in the movie, things went from bad to worse.
Destiny said she invited about 50 people to her parents' home Friday night but estimates as many as 170 were at the house at some point in the evening. "And it's not a very big house," she said.
Neighbors complained, but only asking her to keep the noise down. Destiny is the third generation of the family to live in the house at 145 N. 1200 West. Fights broke out among people who hadn't been invited. There was talk at the house that members of two rival gangs were in the mix. McCubbin said she went to the front door to tell the troublemakers to go away.
As soon as she opened the front door, "This guy started shooting," she said. It was dark outside and she can only describe the man who shot her as young, perhaps 19 to 22 years old, and stocky.
Destiny said the gun was a .22 caliber handgun. Police described it only as a small caliber weapon. The shooter did not seem to have a target. There were a random collection of bullet holes still visible Monday around the house and in the back of a car in the driveway.
"He hit me in the foot," she said. "My cousin was holding a cup and a bullet went through the cup."
"Everybody was screaming and scared. My friends that had never been at anything like this were crying," Destiny said. "I was just in shock. I couldn't believe what was going on, and everybody, everybody was running. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have thrown this stupid party."
Angel Martinez, Destiny's mother, said relatives and friends became aware from a Facebook posting that there were plans for a party at the house, but they didn't alert the parents. "They didn't want to get anybody in trouble. And now they all regret the fact that nobody called," she said.
So Martinez and her husband, Phillip, first found out what was going on from the hospital.
"I got a phone call from the hospital, McKay Dee Hospital, saying that they had my daughter and that she had been shot. It's probably the worst phone call a parent could get in their life, and then to find out that it was at your own house is even more devastating," she said.
Today my mom and dad were cleaning and they found a bunch of knives. We found like backpacks here with knives in them, and it seems like a lot of people came here with bad intentions.
–Destiny McCubbin
"My heart goes out to the other families that are going through the same situation that me and my husband are going through with our daughter," Martinez continued. "I've told her numerous times, numerous times, 'Bullets don't have nobody's names on them. They just hit whoever they want to hit.' We have bullet holes in the window. Our house is a mess. There was blood in our house."
Destiny was released from the hospital Monday morning. Evan, a boy she first met during the party, was shot in the throat and was still in the hospital Monday. Her friend Sasha was hit in the back; her friend Brandon had a bullet graze his head. Police confirmed the injuries but had not released names as of Monday afternoon.
Police were called in around 12:30 a.m. Saturday with reports of noises that sounded either like fireworks or gunshots. Clearfield Police Lt. Adam Malan said officers from Clearfield and several surrounding jurisdictions rolled in. Many teens and adults were seen climbing fences and running away from the house.
Destiny said she only saw the one gun but drugs and a number of other weapons were found abandoned at the house after people fled. Between four and seven shots were fired, according to witnesses.
"Today my mom and dad were cleaning and they found a bunch of knives," Destiny said. "We found like backpacks here with knives in them, and it seems like a lot of people came here with bad intentions."
Malan described people at the party whom officers talked to as "moderately cooperative," but police do not know whether the victims were the intended targets or if they were hit by random gunfire sprayed into the crowd. He would not say whether the shooting was gang-related.
Three of the victims were inside the house when officers arrived. Destiny said she, by then, was in the backyard, her foot bleeding profusely and going numb.
Police would not release any information to the public about the shooting over the weekend. On Monday, however, they asked the public to notify them if there are additional shooting victims that investigators did not know about.
No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.
Destiny said she is anxious for police to catch up with the man who shot her and her friends. "I really hope that somebody will just speak up and say who it was, because I know somebody here knows who he is. Somebody here invited him. Somebody was with him."
For her part, Destiny said she's sorry for her friends and their families, and for her parents.
"They're really disappointed in me. I think that's the worst. I think I would rather have them whip me than be disappointed. I have the best parents in the world and I put them through hell. I'm going to change that ASAP."
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