Father plans Clovis vigil at site of Caleb Quick slaying. ‘Still a safe space’
As the one-year anniversary of the alleged lie-in-wait killing of Caleb Quick approaches, the 18-year-old’s father has planned a service to remember him and recapture the shopping center that had been a teen hangout.
Quick was gunned down from behind on April 23, 2025, in a parking lot shared by a McDonald’s and a Shop-N-Go gas station at Willow and Nees avenues, according to Clovis police.
The killing shocked the community and was followed by at least one prayer vigil in the days following the slaying.
Quick’s father, Stephen Quick, said he has planned a prayer service to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of the Willow Station shopping center.
The evening of April 23, 2025, Caleb Quick was among other teens at the McDonald’s for a weekly Wednesday meeting they called “Fry Night,” which followed a youth group gathering at a local church.
“We’re going to do some singing and worship songs, and really a lot of the kids were impacted about the violence there. So a lot of them had a hard time going back,” Quick said on Friday. “So we really want to have a first-year memory of him, but also kind of say that this is still a safe space.”
Quick has also been advocating for Assembly Bill 2040, which would amend Proposition 57 passed in November 2016 to make it easier to transfer minors who commit serious crimes to be tried as adults, according to advocates of the bill.
The teens in the Quick case — Byron Rangel and Cassandra Michael — were both 16 when they were accused of killing his son and both face murder charges. Rangel, who is accused of being the gunman, has not had a transfer hearing, which will determine if he’ll be tried as an adult. The transfer hearing for the accused getaway driver, Michael, is ongoing.
As adults, Michael would face 26 years to life for participating in the slaying while Rangel would potentially be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, prosecutors have said. As juveniles, they each face up to seven years of confinement or up until they turn 25, prosecutors said.
The bill failed to get enough votes on April 14 to get out of committee, but has been granted reconsideration. It’s also called “Lorenso’s Law” in honor of a Corcoran 17-year-old Lorenso Sanchez who was stabbed to death three days after Quick was killed. The bill was authored by Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare.
The elder Quick said he believes the state is too lenient on teens who commit serious crimes like murder, because the sentence for a minor is significantly less than if they are tried as adults.
The younger Quick has been accused of sexual assault, and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office has offered the alleged assault as the motive behind the shooting. Quick has said his son deserved to face a trial, if necessary, not an extrajudicial killing.
Quick said he believes in the rule of law.
“I’m just advocating for my son’s justice and many other sons and daughters that have gone through this as well,” he said.
He described the 18-year-old as a leader and a “good kid” who had already served two years with the Civil Air Patrol. His son planned to join the Air Force and was interested in being stationed in Japan, because he was interested in Japanese sports cars.
“He wanted to fly planes. That’s something he talked about for a very, very long time,” the father said. “Eighth grade going into freshman year, he made that commitment in his heart, and I’ve got pictures and video of us talking about it back then. That was just something that was always on his mind.”
- Worship and Remembrance of Caleb Quick 7 p.m. Thursday, April 23 McDonald’s parking lot, Willow and Nees avenues
