6-Year-Old Boy Among 3 Killed at Gilroy Garlic Festival Mass Shooting
A 6-year-old boy was killed along with two other people after a mass shooting at the Gilroy, California, Garlic Festival on Sunday evening. Fifteen others were injured.
The annual festival in the “Garlic Capital of the World” in Northern California was wrapping up its third and final day when a gunman opened fire with a rifle, according to police. The gunman told a bystander he was “really angry,” according to an eyewitness.
The dead include Stephen Romero, 6. His grandmother, Maribel Romero, told KGO-TV that he had already been declared dead by the time she reached the hospital.
“There’s no words to describe, because he was such a happy kid,” Romero said. “I want justice for my grandson.”
Police on Monday identified the gunman as Santino William Legan, 19, and said officers killed him less than a minute after responding. Legan evaded security checkpoints by cutting through a fence and entering the festival, Gilroy police chief Scott Smithee previously said.
Legan purchased an “assault-style rifle” in Nevada, authorities said.
Police said they continue to investigate reports of a second suspect and whether Legan belonged to any group. Officers were seen removing items from his home.
Videos taken at the festival show crowds of people running quickly away from tents while pops can be heard in the background.
Festival-goer Ryan Walace told NBC News he saw the gunman as the carnage began.
“I watched him walk up, he raised his gun and started spraying rounds all around,” Walace said. “He was walking like he wanted to get stuff done. It was horrifying. He was ready to do some damage.”
The gunman reportedly wore fatigues and a bandana around his neck.
“I could see him shooting in just every direction,” Julissa Contreras told NBC Bay Area. “He wasn’t aiming at anyone specifically ... He definitely was prepared for what he was doing.”
Another woman told KTVU she heard about 40 or 50 shots, with a 10-second pause in between rounds.
Another witness told the station that he felt a bullet whiz by his head. A third said he saw “quite a few” people on the ground, but wasn’t sure how many had been shot.
The band TinMan was coming on stage to perform an encore when singer Jack van Breen heard the gunman open fire, he told AP. Van Breen and his bandmates dove under the stage, hiding until law enforcement told them to come out with their hands up.
Van Breen said someone shouted at the gunman, “Why are you doing this?” and the gunman responded, “Because I am really angry.”
Evenny Reyes, 13, was just leaving the festival when “we saw a guy with a bandana wrapped around his leg because he got shot. And there were people on the ground, crying,” she told the San Jose Mercury News.
“There was a little kid hurt on the ground ... It was like the movies—everyone was crying, people were screaming.”
At least five of the injured were treated in hospitals and released by Sunday night while others remained in surgery.
The festival—and its famous garlic ice cream—draw about 100,000 people to the town, according to AP. It’s so popular that Caltrain even runs a special “garlic train” up to San Francisco, 80 miles away, for the weekend.
According to the festival’s official site, this year’s three-day gathering was supposed to feature guests including Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio, as well as musical acts Colbie Caillat, who performed a concert on Saturday night, and King Calaway, Waterloo Revival, and Caylee Hammack.
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