STOCKTON — One of two guns stolen from Mayor Anthony Silva in separate thefts was the murder weapon in the south Stockton killing of 13-year-old Rayshawn “Ray Ray” Harris early last year, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office reported late Friday afternoon.

Silva, who is seeking re-election, released a statement in a text message early Friday evening after he was contacted about the report. He provided no explanation for why, based on the district attorney’s report, he failed to notify authorities of the theft of the murder weapon until one month after Harris’ death.

“A few moments ago I was notified by the media that one of my stolen guns were used in a murder,” wrote the 42-year-old Silva, who has been mired in controversy throughout his time in office. “Words can not describe my sorrow and heartbreak for the victim and his family. I feel terrible and I feel sick to my stomach.

“Obviously this was my worst possible fear. I will be in shock for a long time. It’s a horrible tragedy that will be on my mind and in my prayers forever. I will reach out to the family and do whatever I can. I have not been provided any details yet, so I only can react to what the news is claiming. Everyone please pray for Stockton.”

Mark Reichel, an attorney who previously has represented Silva in other legal matters, declined to comment Friday.

The mayor is to be challenged in the Nov. 8 election by City Councilman Michael Tubbs. In a statement, Tubbs wrote Friday night, “The whole community mourns and I send my deepest sympathies to the family of the victim. If the mayor’s gun was indeed stolen, it underscores the importance of the responsibilities that come with 2nd amendment rights to secure weapons and to immediately report to authorities when (they are) missing to prevent tragedies like this from happening.”

Keith Spivey, a cousin of Harris, said Silva provided assistance to the family following the boy’s murder and even attended his funeral. But Spivey said the family doesn’t understand why Silva didn’t report the gun stolen until after the murder occurred.

“Everyone who has a gun knows it should be reported right away if it gets stolen, and he’s the mayor,” Spivey said. “He should know that more than anybody. I’m not saying I think he did anything or he’s up to something, but he knows better, and he didn’t do what he was supposed to do.”

The District Attorney’s Office issued the report on Silva and his stolen gun in response to a California Public Records Act request. The D.A.’s Office said its prime motivation in releasing the report was “a present request by law enforcement for public assistance” in solving Harris’ killing.

The Record reported in early April that two of the mayor’s guns had been stolen in separate thefts in the past two years. It is believed the gun stolen in the second theft still has not been recovered.

According to the district attorney, Harris was killed by a .40-caliber Beretta Px4 Storm semi-automatic pistol legally registered to Silva. The killing occurred about 7 a.m. Feb. 23, 2015, while the teen stood in his driveway in the 2200 block of South Sacramento Street.

The D.A.’s Office says Silva did not report the gun stolen until March 22, 2015 — 27 days after Harris’ killing. The D.A.’s Office reported that the gun also was used on the night of Jan. 15, 2015, 39 days before Harris’ death. In the January shooting, according to the D.A.’s Office, the weapon was fired at a house in the 2300 block of South Church Street twice within a 20-minute span. No one was injured.

There are no suspects in either of those cases, according to the D.A.’s Office. Preliminary findings reveal that the bullets and shell casings in the two unsolved cases were fired by Silva’s gun, the report says.

The gun was recovered by the Stockton Police Department at 2:30 p.m. this past June 9 when officers responded to a domestic disturbance on Treetop Drive in north Stockton, according to the D.A.’s Office.

The man arrested in that case was identified in a police report as Anthony Jerome Binder. Court records indicate an individual with that name was sentenced to five years of informal probation for felony domestic violence on July 1.

The gun used in the Harris killing was reported stolen from a home owned by Silva on Shippee Lane in unincorporated Morada. Silva has said multiple items, including a gun safe, were stolen.

The Record reported in its March 25, 2015, edition that Silva had said his Morada home had been robbed the previous day. The mayor said at the time it was the second recent theft at the house. The Sheriff’s Office told The Record on March 25, 2015, that the victim, whom it did not identify, had interrupted the robbery.

In April when news of the theft of two guns from Silva first broke, the mayor described a Morada robbery in which he hurried to his unoccupied Shippee Lane home after being notified by Neighborhood Watch that “somebody was there.”

He said he chased the burglars “a couple miles down Eight Mile Road” to try to get a license-plate number but was unsuccessful.

The chase Silva described would have come four weeks after Harris was killed. Family members at the time described Harris as a young man who was close to his father and liked to fix up old bicycles. A relative said at the time the boy “took his last breath in his older brother’s arms.”

Silva has said the second gun theft, which he reported this past February, occurred while he was on a Sister Cities tour of the Philippines that same month. It was stolen, Silva said in April, from a north Stockton rental home in which he lives. Silva also said in April he had “an idea” who stole the second gun.

“Somebody knew exactly what they were going for,” Silva said, adding that the gun might have been stolen “by a friend of someone” staying at his rental home while he was in the Philippines.

Silva has been involved in multiple high-profile controversies dating to his stint as a member of the Stockton Unified school board from 2004-08.

While on the SUSD board, Silva was a central figure in a 2007 recruiting scandal involving the Franklin High football team. In 2012, several young women anonymously accused Silva of inappropriate behavior. Silva also was president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Stockton when it lost its charter in 2013. The south side facility now operates as the Kids Club.

Among numerous other high-profile incidents, Silva was a passenger during a violent limousine ride late in 2014; and his cellphone and laptop were confiscated by federal agents last year upon his return to San Francisco International Airport after a trip to China.

Record staff writer Jason Anderson contributed to this report.

— Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.