Blood drops were reportedly found Wednesday, Oct. 17, outside of a Mars Court business where a 17-year-old was allegedly shot during a Sweet 16 birthday party on Saturday, Oct. 13, according to police.

The business, Jump N Slide, at 3205 Mars Court, Ste. 141., is reportedly rented by Stanley Kirk Burrell, also known by his stage name MC Hammer, according to employees of other businesses around the industrial park.

Detectives Steve Flores and Tim Bauer with the Tracy Police Department scoured the parking lot Wednesday afternoon outside the business, where they said the shooting had occurred. During their search, they discovered several drops of blood going down the center of the lot.

“(We) came out to the scene to get a sketch of it,” Flores said. “Get an idea of what the crime scene looked like.”

Flores said the investigators are looking for one gunman who they believed fired between three and six shots into a crowd of people as they ran away from the area of the birthday party. He said the gunfire started when two groups of men allegedly began arguing near 11 p.m.

The business was closed Wednesday, and no hours of operation were listed on the front door.

Dark tinted windows made it difficult to see inside, but there appeared to be a large room with blue carpeting and some furnishings.

Flores couldn’t confirm or deny Wednesday that the business was owned by Burrell.

Burrell had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, with such musical hits as “U Can’t Touch This” and “Too Legit to Quit.”

“I’m not concerned who owns it or (is) leasing it,” Flores said. “My focus is on who’s the shooter. That’s my

primary goal.”

Although the shooter has not been arrested, police did arrest Daniel Garcia, 19, of Tracy, on Saturday, Oct. 13, after he was reportedly seen by police driving away from the area of the shooting at a high rate of speed.

Garcia’s car was stopped on Tracy Boulevard about 50 yards north of the intersection with Schulte Road after a short chase.

During the stop, police discovered that one of Garcia’s passengers, a 17-year-old boy, was shot in the back of the right shoulder. The teen, whose name is not being released because he is a minor, is expected to recover. However, police have said that the bullet will need to be surgically removed.

Garcia reportedly told police when he was arrested that he was taking the teen to Sutter Tracy Community Hospital. He is charged with vehicle evasion, possession of narcotics for sale, transportation of narcotics and several traffic violations related to the car chase.

During Garcia’s arraignment Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the Manteca branch of San Joaquin County Superior Court, Judge Ron Northup ordered that Garcia be released on his own recognizance. The judge stated that Garcia can’t be in the presence of any drugs or alcohol or drive a vehicle without a valid license — or else his $200,787 bail, which was set after his arrest Saturday, would be revoked.

Garcia is due back in the Manteca courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 5, when he is expected to enter pleas to his charges.

Although no employees were present at Jump N Slide on Wednesday, Mike, a man who identified himself as the manager of the business and would provide only his first name, said during a telephone interview Thursday, Oct. 18, that the shooting was not connected to the birthday party.

“It was a friend of mine having his daughter’s private 16-year-old birthday party,” he said. “(The shooting had) nothing to do with that (party), nothing at all.”

Mike said people who were not invited arrived after someone posted information about the party on Facebook. He said uninvited guests were told they couldn’t come into the private function, which was for high school-aged people.

“I’ve got kids panicking and running,” he said. “They hear these shots, exiting the building at the same time. I called the police.”

When asked if Burrell was connected to the business where the party took place, the manager refused to comment.

Although the name on the business

door is Jump N Slide, which is reportedly an event planner business, Mike said he refers to it simply as The Studio. He refused to provide details about the business, but he said that a musical rehearsal was held there four months earlier.

An employee of Encompass Distribution Services, located next to Ste. 141, refused to give his name Wednesday, but he said Burrell does rent the adjacent suite. He called Burrell a “good guy” and “nice person.”

“They come and go,” the employee said. “Basically good neighbors — never been a problem over there.”

Patty Billasnor, who also works at Encompass, said she also thought Burrell rented the space.

“I think it’s MC Hammer,” she said. “I see a lot of young people, like teenagers, practicing dancing.”

With most of the businesses closed by 6 p.m. in the Mars Court industrial park, the few employees working in the area Wednesday said their businesses were closed at the time of the shooting.

Joel Ruby, a gymnastics coach at Classic Gymnastics, said he was cleaning up from a meet at his 3602 Mars Way gym Saturday night when he saw about a dozen teenagers milling around the area as he left around 10:30 p.m.

“I was wondering who was holding a party,” he said. “It seemed like a lot of teens hanging in front.”

The property manager, who refused to give her name, said Thursday that she couldn’t identify the renters of Ste. 141, because it was a matter of privacy.

“They don’t want to publicly have attention, so I’m just honoring that,” she said. “I don’t want to say anything.”

Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Flores at 831-6624.

• Joel Danoy also contributed to this report.