Prosecuting Caleb Quick shooting suspects as minors ‘diminishes the value of my son,’ dad says

CLOVIS, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The father of Caleb Quick, the teenager who was shot and died outside a McDonald’s in Clovis in April, says he still wants to see the suspects tried as adults. Caleb’s father, Stephen, says charging the teenagers as children “diminishes the value of my son.”

Stephen Quick spoke to YourCentralValley.com while attending a rally of parents against Prop 57 in Madera on Monday. The latest protest in Madera drew new families to the movement, most notably Caleb Quick’s father.

Stephen Quick, who is from Madera, says joining the movement is more than a homecoming.

“We’re seeing that just a couple of days after my son was murdered, there’s Lorenzo and Hanford, who was murdered,” Stephen said. “Then, Jacob, here in Madera, was murdered by teens.”

Stephen says that in joining the other grieving families, he hopes to see legislative change that would provide justice for every family, including his.

“[The accused teens] all say face the same consequences, potentially, of having a good rest of their life at the age of 25,” Stephen said. “They’ll be out at 25 and just be able to live a happy, normal life – my son’s life’s gone.”

Stephen Quick said prosecuting the two suspects involved in his son’s death as minors undermines his son’s value – and that the suspects being children does not mean their alleged crime was “just a mistake.”

“I personally don’t like that argument. I think it’s, it kind of diminishes the value of my son when they say that: ‘it’s a woops, it won’t happen again. Give me a slap on my hand and let me go on my day.’ That’s essentially what’s going to happen if they do get tried as juveniles.”

The parents against Prop 57 group plan to join Stephen and the rest of the Quick family at Fresno County Superior Court at the next hearing for the teens accused of killing Caleb Quick.