A gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California, leaving four dead and others injured, officials say.

Gilroy Police Chief Scott Smithee told a news conference late on Sunday that the suspected gunman appeared to have cut through a fence to get into the annual event before randomly shooting at festival-goers.

He added that the gunman was among those who have died, and may have had one accomplice.

"It's just incredibly sad and disheartening that at an event that does so much good the community had to suffer from a tragedy like this," said Smithee. </s> Video posted to social media shows confusion after a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy garlic festival in northern California. At least three people were killed and 15 injured before the assailant was shot dead by police
• California garlic festival shooting: gunman kills at least three at Gilroy event </s> GILROY (KRON) — A shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival Sunday has left three people dead, including a 6-year-old boy, and 15 others wounded.

The gunman was shot and killed by police, according to Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee.

Some witnesses are reporting a second suspect but police have not been able to confirm that, Chief Smithee said. They are still actively looking for a possible second individual who may have been involved.

The shooter was able to gain access to the festival by cutting through the fence.

The incident started at around 5:41 p.m. at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy when police received reports of shooting on the north side of the festival.

Officers were in the area and engaged the suspect in less than a minute.

Chief Smithee says the shooter had a some type of rifle.

Witnesses say gunfire started near one of the musical acts. That witness says bullets were flying near the stage as people ran for cover.

At least eight people have been hospitalized. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Joy Alexiou says the hospital has received two victims from the shooting and expects three more.

A spokeswoman for Stanford Medical Center says they have two patients there being treated from a shooting Sunday at an annual food festival in Northern California. Julie Greicius says she has no details on their injuries or conditions.

Video on social media sites showed people running for safety at the festival.

Witnesses have told KRON4 News that they saw a shooter in green camouflage, however that is not confirmed by police.

Police advise if you are looking for a loved one, please go to the reunification center at Gavilan College at parking lot B.

Police are asking for witnesses to call (408) 846-0583.

The festival is a nationally known three-day event that attracts thousands of garlic lovers. Sunday was the final day of the festival.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has responded to the shooting:

President Trump also took to Twitter to respond to the shooting:
• The Gunman: How he got into the Garlic Festival
• 3 Guns: Witness describes when shots rang out at Gilroy Garlic Festival </s> GILROY, Calif. — Authorities on Monday were searching for answers to why a 19-year-old opened fire on a popular food festival less than a mile from his parents' home in California, killing two children and another young man, but believe many more people would have died if officers patrolling the event had not stopped the gunman so quickly.

Santino William Legan, 19, cut through a fence and appeared to randomly target people with an "assault-type rifle" Sunday afternoon, the end of the three-day Gilroy Garlic Festival that attracts about 100,000 people to the city known as the "Garlic Capital of the World," Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said.

Police responded in less than a minute, and Legan turned his "AK-47-type" gun on them, Smithee said. Three officers fired back and killed Legan, who legally purchased the weapon this month in Nevada, where his last address is listed.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of the officers who were able to engage this guy as quickly as they did," the police chief said. "We had thousands of people there. It could have gone so much worse so fast. ... There absolutely would have been more bloodshed."

Legan's motive wasn't known, Smithee said. Legan posted two photos on Instagram not long before the attack that injured 12 other people.

One photo depicted Smokey the Bear in front of a "fire danger" sign, with a caption that said to read the 19th century book "Might is Right," a work that claims race determines behavior and is popular among white nationalists and far-right extremist groups.

Legan's since-deleted Instagram account says he is Italian and Iranian. Minutes before the shooting, he had posted a photo from the festival saying, "Ayyy garlic festival time" and "come get wasted on overpriced (stuff)."

The festival in the agricultural city of 50,000 about 80 miles (176 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco had security that required people to pass through metal detectors and have their bags searched.

The shooter sneaked in through a fence that borders a parking lot next to a creek, Smithee said, and the gunfire sent panicked people running away and diving for cover under tables and a concert stage.

Some witnesses reported a second suspect, Smithee said, but it was unclear whether that person was armed or just helped in some way. A manhunt stretched into Monday.

The shooting killed 6-year-old Stephen Romero, a 13-year-old girl and recent college graduate Trevor Irby, who was in his 20s, authorities and family said.

"My son had his whole life to live and he was only 6," Alberto Romero told San Francisco Bay Area news station KNTV. "That's all I can say."

The boy's grandmother, Maribel Romero, told Los Angeles station KABC-TV that she searched several hospitals before learning he had died. She said he was "always kind, happy and, you know, playful."

RELATED: Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting: Grandmother of 6-year-old boy killed says he was 'always kind, happy... playful'

Keuka College said Irby was a biology major who graduated in 2017 from the school in upstate New York.

Officials didn't release the name of the girl who died. The wounded were taken to multiple hospitals, and their conditions ranged from fair to critical, with some undergoing surgery. At least five have been released.

Police searched the two-story home of Legan's family less than a mile from the garlic festival and a dusty car parked outside before leaving the house Monday with paper bags and what appeared to be other evidence.

Jan Dickson, a neighbor across the street, said Santino Legan had not lived there for at least a year and that SWAT officers came to the home Sunday night. She called the Legans "a nice, normal family."

"How do you cope with this? They have to deal with the fact that their son did this terrible thing and that he died," Dickson said.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival features food, cooking contests and music and is a decades-old staple in the city. Authorities said police, paramedics and firefighters were stationed throughout the event.

The band TinMan was starting an encore Sunday when the shooting started. Singer Jack van Breen said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and grayish handkerchief around his neck fire into the food area.

Van Breen, from nearby Santa Clara, said he heard someone shout: "Why are you doing this?" The reply: "Because I'm really angry."

The audience began screaming and running, and the five members of the band and others dove under the stage.

Bandmate Vlad Malinovsky said he heard a lot of shots and then it stopped. Later, law enforcement told those hiding to come out with their hands up.

Donna Carlson of Reno, Nevada, was helping a friend at a jewelry booth when "all of a sudden it was pop, pop, pop. And I said, 'I sure hope that's fireworks.'" She got on her hands and knees and hid behind a table until police told her it was safe to leave.

"We express our deepest sadness and sorrow for the families who lost a precious loved one in the horrific shooting last night in Gilroy, California," Trump said before an event at the White House.

In a tweet, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the bloodshed "nothing short of horrific" and said he was grateful for the police response.

Video posted to social media showed people running in terror as shots rang out.

Evenny Reyes of Gilroy, 13, told the Mercury News in San Jose that she spent the day at the festival with her friends and relatives.

"We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandanna wrapped around his leg because he got shot. And there were people on the ground, crying," Reyes said. "There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out."

Reyes said that she didn't run at first because the gunshots sounded like fireworks.

"It started going for five minutes, maybe three. It was like the movies — everyone was crying, people were screaming," she said.

Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo in Washington and Martha Mendoza in Gilroy contributed to this report. </s> A gunman with an assault-type rifle opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday evening, killing three and wounding 12 others, some critically, before being killed by police, Gilroy police said. A 6-year-old boy was among the dead.

Read the latest on this story here.

Police Chief Scot Smithee said the gunman — identified in news reports as 19-year-old Santino William Legan — and a companion accessed the festival through a creek and cut through a perimeter fence to avoid metal detectors. Gilroy police did not know what motivated the shooter or how the second suspect may have been involved. Authorities searched the Gilroy home of Legan’s family Monday morning, and neighbors confirmed that he lived at the home.

Witnesses reported a second suspect, and a search continued late Sunday night for that person, police said. Authorities were unsure what role the second individual played in the shooting.

The barrage of shots that rang out in the final hour of the three-day festival sent attendees diving to the ground, crawling under tables, screaming in fear and sprinting for safety.

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“It was quite shocking, and I’m fortunate to be alive,” said Michael Paz, 72, a hat vendor at the festival.

Paz said he was about 80 feet away from the shooter, whom he described as being in his 30s and armed with a rapid-fire assault rifle.

“He came ready to shoot because he was wearing a protective vest,” Paz said. “He was shooting left; he was shooting right without any particular aim.”

Paz said everyone immediately dropped to the ground as law officers converged on the gunman and opened fire.

At a street corner not far from the festival, officers were standing with drawn weapons. Officers were telling pedestrians to stay away from the area at Filbro Drive and Princevalle Street. It was unclear whether the activity there was related to the search for the gunman.

“Go that way! Get outta here!” officers screamed at passing pedestrians.

A chaotic video posted on Twitter shortly after 6 p.m. showed dozens of visitors running on the festival grounds. Panicked voices could be heard in the background.

“What’s going on? ... Oh, they’re shooting,” the unidentified voices said.

Another video posted to social media showed a bloodied shooting victim lying in the back of a white pickup truck, bleeding from his arm and waist.

The first 911 calls came in at 5:41 p.m. with witnesses telling police the shooter was a white male in his 20s wearing a camouflage uniform and hat with a long rifle with removable clips.

Shortly thereafter, a police officer told dispatch that he saw a Ford pickup driving off, likely to a hospital, while someone gave CPR to a victim in the bed of the truck.

At about 5:53 p.m., dispatch logs show, there was the first report of a possible shooter down in the northeast section of park.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center was treating 11 gunshot victims and seven others wounded in the panic, said hospital spokeswoman Joy Alexiou. Eight non-gunshot wound victims were treated at St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, including one person who broke an ankle running away from the scene.

The gunshot victims’ conditions ranged from critical to fair. Some victims were treated and released.

Alexiou said the hospital system has never handled a mass shooting in Santa Clara County, but staffers were called in to triage the situation.

“This is just a tough situation for our community,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll never see anything ever like this again.”

At Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, at least a dozen people inside the front door could be seen crying and embracing each other.

Mark Mendoza, 16, and his family said they were heading into the emergency room to find his cousin, who had been shot in the leg at the festival. Mendoza said he was near a children’s play area when a man near him opened fire.

The gunman wore a “sheriff-type outfit” and was armed with what appeared to be a semiautomatic rifle, the teenager said. He said he watched as the shooter pointed the gun at a food vendor area and began firing.

“A couple bullets hit the ground, I just ran,” Mendoza said. “I looked back, and a couple shots went by me.”

One of the bullets struck his cousin, whom he did not identify, in the leg. The family split up, some scrambling into a wooded area and through a fence. A bystander helped some of the children climb through. Mendoza’s cousin was able to run away.

Herman Solis of Hollister (San Benito County), who was attending the festival with his girlfriend, said he dropped to the ground when he heard gunfire.

“You could hear the bullets whizzing by,” he said. “It was unreal. We ran and ducked for cover. It was chaos. At first I thought it was fireworks. Then I realized it wasn’t.”

Solis and his girlfriend ran from the festival, took shelter in a nearby convenience store, and watched ambulances and police cars whiz past, heading for the festival grounds.

Another festivalgoer, Felton Amos, 60, of Rio Vista had just finished eating dinner at a food tent with his family when he heard what he thought were firecrackers. He said the shooting lasted for about a minute.

“Everybody just ran, panicked,” he said. “It sounded like more than one gun, like they were having a shootout.”

Amos pushed his family to the ground as shots rang out nearby. Then he noticed that a woman was standing nearby, frozen in fear.

“I got up and snatched her back down,” Amos said. “My mind was saying, ‘I’m going to get hit,’ but it didn’t matter.”

Marybelle Arebalo, 23, had just finished a meal of garlic ice cream, bread and fries when the crowd of panicked festivalgoers began surging past. She said she did not hear the gunfire but saw the frightened festivalgoers heading for a rocky path leading away from the festival grounds.

Arebalo said she scooped up her 1-year-old niece, plopped her in the stroller and began running with everyone else.

“I didn’t believe it actually happened,” Arebalo said. “I was in shock. It’s so sad that we couldn’t even enjoy that day. We had to think about an escape plan and safety, and people dying. I came home and started crying. I can’t put my head around it.”

Elena Diaz was waiting for her husband to pick her up from an emergency staging area at Gavilan College. She had to flee with the rest of the festivalgoers when the shooting started. She was working her booth, selling toe rings by the music stage when she heard two pops, “like fireworks” and then a rapid succession of gunfire.

She and her customers huddled behind a table, for how long she wasn’t sure.

“It was so scary,” she said. “It was like a scary movie.”

Gilroy police asked anyone with any information about the shootings to call 408-846-0583. It also is a family-reunification line.

Another festivalgoer, Briana Wilson, 20, said she had been volunteering in an olive oil booth when shots rang out. A man pushed her to the ground and, she said, told her to “hide or run.”

Wilson said she heard about half a dozen shots that sounded to her like corn popping in a microwave oven. She ran. People running alongside her were calling out for their loved ones, she said.

After running for what seemed like 2 miles, she and her friends found a man watering his lawn. He let them take refuge inside his house.

Candice Marquez, 51, a honey vendor at the festival, said she was just 10 feet from the shooter and saw him replace a clip of ammunition.

“He was super quiet, he was reloading, and we ran,” she said.

Brian Bowe, executive director of the festival, told dozens of reporters gathered in the parking lot of Gavilan College that for four decades the festival has been an “annual family reunion” for the Gilroy community.

“It is such a sad, horribly upsetting circumstance,” Bowe said. “It’s one of the most tragic and sad things that I’ve ever had to see.”

State elected officials condemned the violence even as police were still seeking the shooter.

“This is nothing short of horrific,” tweeted Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies assisted Gilroy police officers at the scene, a sheriff’s department spokeswoman said. First responders from San Jose and Salinas also assisted, as did units from the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The violence in Gilroy is among the few hundred mass shootings in the U.S. each year, generally defined as killing or injuring four or more people. Last week, a shooter in the San Fernando Valley killed four people, two of whom were the gunman’s family members.

California’s deadliest shooting in recent years was November’s bloodshed in Thousand Oaks (Ventura County), where a shooter killed 12 at a crowded bar. The nation’s worst shooting remains the 2017 rampage in Las Vegas, where a gunman killed 58 and injured more than 500 at a country music concert.

While the number of mass shootings hasn’t necessarily risen in recent decades, the death tolls have generally grown. While legislators have tightened gun laws in some states, including California, other states have resisted changes — and few reforms have come on the national level.

Notably, federal law still allows private-party sales without background checks, known as the gun-show loophole.

“Our country has a gun violence epidemic that we cannot tolerate,” tweeted Sen. Kamala Harris.

Chronicle staff writers Lizzie Johnson, Kurtis Alexander, Ashley McBride and Matthias Gafni contributed to this report. </s> A six-year-old boy was among the dead after a gunman cut through a fence to avoid security and opened fire at Northern California’s popular Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Three people were killed and at least 15 wounded before police fatally shot the gunman as terrified people and performers ran for cover.

Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said the assailant was armed with a rifle and sneaked in through a fence that borders a parking lot next to a creek.

He appeared to randomly target people when he opened fire at the conclusion of the three-day festival that attracts more than 100,000 people to the city known as the Garlic Capital Of The World.

Police responded within a minute, engaged the suspect and killed him, Mr Smithee said.

Some witnesses reported a second suspect, Mr Smithee said, but it was unclear whether that person was armed or simply provided assistance.

Mr Smithee called the scene at the festival a “nightmare you hope you never have to live”.

A six-year-old boy was one among those killed, his father said.

“My son had his whole life to live and he was only six,” the father of Stephen Romero told NBC Bay Area.

The wounded were taken to multiple hospitals, and their conditions ranged from fair to critical, with some in surgery Sunday night.

At least five were treated and released.

It is a decades-old staple in the agricultural city of 50,000 about 80 miles south east of San Francisco.

Security is tight, festival-goers pass through metal detectors and their bags are searched.

On Sunday, the band TinMan was starting an encore with the song We’re An American Band when the shooting started.

Singer Jack van Breen said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and greyish handkerchief around his neck fire into the food area with what looked like an assault rifle.

Van Breen and other members of the band sought cover under the stage.

Van Breen, from nearby Santa Clara, said he heard someone shout: “Why are you doing this?” and the reply: “Because I’m really angry.”

Their audience began screaming and running, and the five members of TinMan and others dove under the stage.

Van Breen’s bandmate, Vlad Malinovsky of Walnut Creek, California, said he heard a lot of shots and then it stopped.

Later, police came by and told the band members and others hiding with them to come out with their hands up.

Taylor Jackson was working at a booth drawing caricatures of festival-goers when she heard gunfire, saw people running and “ran for the hills.”

She said her boss ran in the opposite direction.

Several hours later, Ms Jackson was at a reunification centre trying to get information on her whereabouts.

Donna Carlson of Reno, Nevada, was helping a friend at a jewellery booth when “all of a sudden it was pop, pop, pop. And I said, ‘I sure hope that’s fireworks’.”

She got on her hands and knees and hid behind a table until police told her it was safe to leave.

In a tweet, California governor, Gavin Newsom called the bloodshed “nothing short of horrific” and expressed appreciation for the police response.

President Donald Trump tweeted before authorities confirmed the gunman was dead and urged people to “be careful and safe!”

Video posted to social media showed people running in terror as shots rang out.

Evenny Reyes of Gilroy, 13, told the Mercury News that she spent the day at the festival with her friends and relatives.

“We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandanna wrapped around his leg because he got shot. And there were people on the ground, crying,” Evenny said.

“There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out.”

Evenny said that she did not run at first because the gunshots sounded like fireworks.

“It started going for five minutes, maybe three. It was like the movies, everyone was crying, people were screaming,” she said.

Mr Smithee said the festival is a source of pride for the community and that thousands donate their time to make it a success.

“It’s incredibly sad and disheartening that an event that does so much good for our community has to suffer from a tragedy like this,” he said. </s> GILROY, Calif. (Reuters) - A California teenager was identified by police on Monday as the gunman who opened fire with an assault rifle at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, killing three people, including two children.

Santino William Legan, 19, cut through a fence at the festival on Sunday evening and shot people seemingly at random with an “AK-47-style” assault rifle, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee told reporters. Legan was fatally shot by three police officers armed with handguns.

“It could have gone so much worse so fast,” Smithee said, noting the festival, which takes place about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Silicon Valley, is attended by thousands of visitors.

Police were still trying to determine a motive for the shooting and investigating unconfirmed reports by eyewitnesses that Legan may have had an accomplice.

Legan killed a 6-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s, Smithee said. Police believe Legan, who was originally from Gilroy, purchased the rifle legally on July 9 in Nevada, where he had been living with family members.

At least 12 people were injured, but it was unclear how many of them were struck by gunfire. Police had initially said that 15 people were injured.

Seven of the victims, ranging in age between 12 and 69 years old, were taken to nearby Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. One was released and another was transferred to another facility, according to the hospital .

Of the five remaining patients, one was listed in critical condition, one in serious condition and the other in fair condition. Two patients have requested no information be released.

St. Louise Regional Medical Center in Gilroy received six patients with gunshot wounds, including one of the victims who later died, the hospital said.

Two other victims were transferred to another hospital and three were discharged. Another eight people came with non-gunshot injuries, but were not admitted to the hospital.

President Donald Trump described the gunman as a “wicked murderer” during an event at the White House, and asked Americans to pray for the victims.

“We grieve for their families, and we ask that God will comfort them with his overflowing mercy and grace,” he said.

The gunman was believed to have cut through a fence in order evade metal detectors and other security at the festival entrance, police said.

Legan appeared to post a photograph from the festival on his Instagram account shortly before the shooting, with captions expressing his disdain for the event.

“Ayyy garlic festival time,” he wrote beneath a picture of people walking through the festival grounds. “Come get wasted on overpriced shit.”

Another photograph posted on Sunday showed a sign warning of a high danger of forest fires. Its caption urged people to read “Might is Right,” a racist and sexist treatise written by the pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard in the 19th century.

“Why overcrowd towns and pave more open space to make room for hordes of mestizos and Silicon Valley white twats?” the caption said. The account was only a few days old, and was deactivated on Monday..

Footage uploaded to social media showed festival attendees scattering in fear and confusion as loud popping sounds could be heard in the background.

Police declined to name the fatalities on Monday, but one of them was identified by his grandmother in an interview with the local ABC affiliate as Stephen Romero, 6. Maribel Romero described Stephen as a “loving boy” who was “always kind, happy and ... playful.”

Romero was near a bouncy house when he was shot, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

His mother and the boy’s other grandmother were also shot and were being treated in a hospital, Maribel Romero told local media.

Keyla Salazar, 13, of San Jose was also killed in the shooting, the Santa Clara Coroner’s Office said.

Founded in 1979, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is an annual event run by volunteers and held outdoors at Christmas Hill Park. The agricultural community bills itself as the “Garlic Capital of the World.”

Weapons of any kind are prohibited, according to the event’s website, which also said anyone wearing clothing or paraphernalia indicating membership in a gang, including a motorcycle club, would be refused entry. </s> At least five people were injured Sunday at an annual food festival in Northern California, a hospital spokeswoman says. (Photo: KNTV/NBC Newschannel)

GILROY, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a shooting at a food festival in Northern California (all times local):

Vendors at California’s Gilroy Garlic Festival say a 10-year-old girl saved their bosses’ 3-year-old son from harm after a gunman shot at their tent, wounding the toddler’s parents.

Candice Marquez told The Associated Press on Monday that she was working the Honey Ladies stand with Cheryl Low when they stepped away to go to nearby portable restrooms.

When they left the restrooms, they heard what they said sounded like fireworks. They looked to their left and saw a shooter putting another clip into a gun and heading toward the Honey Ladies tent.

Marquez says she and Low ran in the other direction while the gunman continued.

While this was happening, Marquez says, her 10-year-old niece was still in the tent and helped their bosses’ 3-year-old son to safety under a table.

Marquez says her niece told her she looked the gunman right in the eye, but that he didn’t shoot.

Authorities in northern Nevada say they searched an apartment believed to have been used by the 19-year-old man responsible for the California garlic festival shooting that killed two children and a recent college graduate.

Mineral County District Attorney Sean Rowe confirmed the search by the FBI and local sheriff’s deputies of one of three homes in a modest stucco single-story building overlooking Walker Lake a few miles north of Hawthorne, Nevada.

Mineral County Sheriff Randy Adams called the investigation ongoing and declined in a statement to provide information about what was sought or found.

A spokeswoman for the FBI in Nevada declined to comment.

Another apartment in the triplex appeared to be vacant, and no one answered the door at the third.

A northern Nevada gun shop says the gunman in the California festival shooting purchased his rifle through the store’s online shop and appeared happy and presented “no reasons for concern” when he appeared in person.

Big Mike’s Guns and Ammo in Fallon posted on the shop’s Facebook page that “we are heartbroken this could ever happen,” and the business “would never sell any firearm to anyone who acted wrong or looks associated with any bad group like white power.”

The post’s author, who signed off as “Mike,” said he did not know the gunman, but “when I did see him, he was acting happy and show no reasons for concern.”

A law enforcement official said investigators believe the gunman used a WASR-10, which was purchased from Big Mikes Gun and Ammo in Nevada earlier this month. The official was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity

One of the three people killed in a shooting at California’s Gilroy Garlic Festival has been identified as a recent graduate of a college in upstate New York.

Keuka College President Amy Storey says in statement Monday that Trevor Irby, a biology major who graduated in 2017, was among the victims of the Sunday shooting.

Keuka College is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southwest of Syracuse, New York.

The others killed were a 6-year-old boy, Stephen Romero, and a 13-year-old girl whose name has not been released.

Authorities say three police officers fatally shot the gunman.

The gunman in the California festival shooting appears to have posted two photos on Instagram that day, including one minutes before he opened fire.

Police say Santino William Legan killed three victims and wounded 12 others Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Legan’s since-deleted Instagram account says he is Italian and Iranian. It also shows a photo he posted earlier depicting Smokey the Bear in front of a “fire danger” sign. In the caption, Legan said to read “Might is Right,” a book published in the 1800s.

The misogynist and anti-Semitic work is used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists on extremist sites.

Minutes before the shooting, he posted a photo from the festival: “Ayyy garlic festival time” and “come get wasted on overpriced (stuff).”

The mayor of the California city where a gunman killed three at an annual food festival says the community will mourn the tragedy but will get through it.

Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco told a press conference Monday that gun violence is an epidemic in the United States and it’s “beyond sad” that a charitable event such as the Gilroy Garlic Festival was targeted.

The gunman opened fire Sunday as the festival was in its closing hours, sending the crowd scattering.

Three police officers immediately engaged and killed the gunman, who was armed with an assault-type rifle.

The mayor commended the officers’ “remarkable bravery” in running toward the shooter and says they undoubtedly saved many lives by putting their own lives in danger.

Authorities say the shooter who attacked a California food festival used an assault-type rifle and opened fire on three local police officers who immediately responded.

Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee says even though the handgun-equipped officers were outgunned, the officers were able quickly fatally shoot the gunman.

The shooting occurred on the closing day of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.

The gunman killed a 6-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. There’s no immediate word on the other 15 people who were either wounded or suffered injuries such as scrapes and bruises.

Smithee says the motive remains unknown. Police are still investigating whether there is a second suspect.

A woman who lives across the street from the family of a man who opened fire at California food festival says SWAT officers came to the home.

Jan Dickson says the officers ordered those inside to come out with their hands up Sunday night and one person did. She says the parents had four boys: one who’s a boxer and another who’s a runner.

Dickson said Monday that they were “a nice, normal family.” She says Santino William Legan hadn’t lived there for at least a year.

A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said Legan opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday.

The shooting killed three people, including a 6-year-old boy, and injured about 15 before police killed the gunman.

— Associated Press reporters Kathleen Ronayne in Gilroy and Michael Balsamo in Washington

President Donald Trump is condemning the “wicked murderer” who opened fire at a California garlic festival, killing three and wounding at least 15 others.

Trump spoke Monday before an event at the White House to sign a bill ensuring that a victims’ compensation fund related to the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money.

The president said that the nation would “grieve” for the victims’ families and “ask that God comfort them.”

Trump, who has steadfastly opposed ambitious gun control measures, said the nation would “answer violence with the courage of our national resolve.”

Police said the gunman appeared to randomly target people when he opened fire just after 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the large festival in Gilroy.

Among those killed was a 6-year-old boy.

A law enforcement official says the gunman in the California festival shooting has been identified as Santino William Legan.

The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday morning.

The shooter was killed after opening fire on the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday. Three victims were killed and at least 15 others injured.

Authorities say he used a rifle and gained entry to the packed festival by cutting through a fence to avoid security measures, including metal detectors.

A 6-year-old boy was one of the three people killed when a gunman opened fire at a Northern California garlic festival.

Alberto Romero told NBC Bay Area that his son Stephen was killed.

“My son had his whole life to live and he was only 6,” his father Alberto Romero told NBC Bay Area. “That’s all I can say.”

Authorities say three people were killed and at least 15 others injured in the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

The shooter also was killed. Authorities say he used a rifle and gained entry to the packed festival by cutting through a fence to avoid security measures, including metal detectors.

Edward and Jane Jacobucci said they were standing at their booth selling garlic graters when the shooting started Sunday afternoon at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Edward Jacobucci said the shooting was “absolute chaos.” ”It happened right in front of our booth,” he said.

Jane Jacobucci described the shooter as a tall, thin young man in camouflage with a big gun.

She said her husband threw her to the ground when the shooting started.

Three people were killed and at least 15 others injured in the shooting. Also dead is the shooter, who used a rifle and gained entry to the packed festival by cutting through a fence to avoid the tight security, including metal detectors, police said.

The wounded from a shooting at a food festival in Northern California were taken to multiple hospitals and their conditions ranged from fair to critical.

Several of the victims from the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival were in surgery Sunday night. At least five had been treated and released, said officials from the hospitals.

Earlier Sunday, Stanford Medical Center reported having two patients from the shooting. Spokeswoman Julie Greicius said she had no details on their injuries or conditions. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center received five victims, spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said. She also had no information on their conditions.

Police say a suspect cut through a fence to gain access to a California festival before opening fire with a rifle and killing three people.

Police Chief Scot Smithee says attendees at Sunday’s garlic festival in Gilroy, California, had to go through security checkpoints with metal detectors.

Smithee says police are looking for a possible second suspect, who may have accompanied the gunman. He says a search is underway to find that person.

Smithee says investigators believe the gunman used “some sort of tool” to cut through a fence and gain access to the secure festival area.

The shooting occurred during the annual three-day celebration featuring food, cooking competitions and music that attracts more than 100,000 people.

Police say a suspect has been killed after opening fire, killing three others, at a food festival in California.

Police Chief Scot Smithee says Sunday that witnesses reported a second suspect, but it was unclear whether that person opened fire.

Smithee says the suspects had used a tool to cut through a fence and access the annual garlic festival in Gilroy, California.

He says one of the suspects opened fire and police and officers in the area confronted the suspect in less than a minute. He says that suspect was shot and killed.

“He had some sort of a rifle”

Mayor Roland Velasco asked for the public’s support of the investigation. “I would ask for the thoughts and prayers of the community as our Gilroy police officers continue to investigate this tragic and senseless crime,” he said.

The band Tin Man was just starting an encore when shots rang out at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California.

Singer Jack van Breen said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and grayish handkerchief around his neck fire into the food area with what looked like an assault rifle.

Van Breen and other members of the band dove under the stage. Van Breen says he heard someone shout: “Why are you doing this?” and the reply: “Because I’m really angry. “

His bandmate Vlad Malinovsky from Walnut Creek, California, said he heard a lot of shots and then it stopped. Later, law enforcement came by and told the band members and others hiding with them to come out with their hands up.

A city official says the gunman killed three and wounded 12 in the late Sunday afternoon shooting.

A city councilman says three people have been killed and 12 others are injured after a shooting at a festival in Gilroy, California.

Councilman Dion Bracco tells The Associated Press those are preliminary figures following Sunday’s shooting.

Witnesses reported confusion and panic as shots rang out at the festival in the city of 50,000 located about 80 miles (176 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

The shooting occurred during the annual garlic festival, a three-day celebration featuring food, cooking competitions and music that attracts more than 100,000 people.

Sunday was the final day of this year’s event.

A spokeswoman for Stanford Medical Center says they have two patients there being treated from a shooting Sunday at an annual food festival in Northern California. Julie Greicius says she has no details on their injuries or conditions.

Earlier Sunday, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said the hospital has received two victims from the shooting and expects three more. She also had no information on their conditions.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump sent a tweet saying: “Law Enforcement is at the scene of shootings in Gilroy, California. Reports are that shooter has not yet been apprehended. Be careful and safe!”

Witnesses to the shooting Sunday at an annual food festival in Northern California described the confusion and panic at the scene, the Mercury News reported.

Evenny Reyes of Gilroy, 13, told the newspaper that spent the day at the Gilroy Garlic Festival with her friends and relatives.

“We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandanna wrapped around his leg because he got shot. And there were people on the ground, crying,” Reyes said. “There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out.”

Reyes told the Mercury News that she didn’t run at first because the gunshots sounded like fireworks. “It started going for five minutes, maybe three. It was like the movies — everyone was crying, people were screaming.”

Todd Jones, a sound engineer, told the newspaper that he was at the front of the festival’s Vineyard stage when he heard what sounded like a firework. “But then it started to increase, more rapidly, which sounded more like gunfire, and at that point people realized what was happening,” Jones said.

At least five people were hospitalized Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, a hospital spokeswoman says.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Joy Alexiou says the hospital has received two victims from the shooting and expects three more. She had no information on their conditions.

Video first posted on social media sites about an hour ago showed people running for safety at the festival,

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are responding to the scene of a shooting at an annual food festival in northern California.

At least five people were hospitalized Sunday after the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, a hospital spokeswoman says.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Joy Alexiou says the hospital has received two victims from the shooting and expects three more. She had no information on their conditions.

Video first posted on social media sites about an hour ago showed people running for safety at the festival,

The Gilroy Police Department on its Twitter account issued a statement saying: “The hearts of Gilroy PD and entire community go out to the victims of today’s shooting at the Garlic Festival.The scene is still active. If you are looking for a loved one, please go to the reunification center at Gavilan College at parking lot B.”

The festival is a nationally known three-day event that attracts thousands of garlic lovers. Sunday was the final day of the festival.

At least five people were injured Sunday after a shooting an annual food festival in Northern California, a hospital spokeswoman says.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Joy Alexiou says the hospital has received two victims from the shooting and expects three more. She had no information on their conditions.

Video first posted on social media sites about an hour ago showed people running for safety at the festival,

The Gilroy Garlic Festival is a nationally known three-day event that attracts thousands of garlic lovers. Sunday was the final day of the festival.

There are reports of a shooting at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

The San Francisco Chronicle did not know how many people were involved in the shooting Sunday.

Video on social media sites showed people running for safety at the festival,

The festival is a nationally known three-day event that attracts thousands of garlic lovers. Sunday was the final day of the festival. </s> Boy, 6, among three killed as gunman opens fire at US food festival

Boy, 6, among three killed as gunman opens fire at US food festival

Six-year-old Steven Romero was among those killed in the shooting. Pic: NBC Bay Area

A six-year-old boy was among three people killed after a gunman opened fire at a food festival in California.

Steven Romero had been visiting the garlic festival in the city of Gilroy with his mother and grandmother when he was shot and killed, according to NBC Bay Area.

Another 15 people were injured in the attack at 5.41pm local time (1.41am UK time) after the gunman began "shooting in every direction".

He killed three people before being shot dead by police in attendance within a minute.

Steven's father, Alberto, said he was at home when he got the call that his son had been killed.

"My son had his whole life to live and he was only six," he told NBC Bay Area.

When asked what his thoughts were following the tragedy, he said: "Hopefully they get the shooters and basically that's it right now.

"I lost my son and that's the only thing I really can do besides trying to be with him until I could put him in his resting spot, wherever that is."

Chief of Police Scot Smithee said the gunman, and a suspected second gunman or supporter, came into the festival via a creek which borders a parking area.

He said it was thought they used "some sort of a tool to cut through the fence".

Mr Smithee confirmed it was still an active scene.

"There were reports of a shooting on the north side of the garlic festival area," he said. "Officers were in that area and engaged that suspect in less than a minute. The suspect was shot and killed."

Witness Julissa Contreras told reporters she saw the gunman firing a rifle that was "able to shoot three to four shots a second".

"It was just rapid firing," she said.

"I could see him shooting in just every direction. He wasn't aiming at anyone specifically. It was just left to right, right to left. He definitely was prepared for what he was doing."

A number of videos posted to social media showed people running away from the event. Gunshots could be heard in the background of some of the clips.

In one of the videos a woman can be heard asking: "Who would shoot up a garlic festival?"

Julissa Contreras said she was about 20ft from the shooter when he opened fire.

In a video posted on social media, she said the alleged shooter was a white man wearing a "utility outfit, like he looked like he was private security".

The suspect shot at police officers with what appeared to be a "semi-automatic rifle".

A 13-year-old girl told San Jose Mercury News she had initially thought the noise had been fireworks, but saw a man that had a bandana tied around his leg wound.

The singer of a band who had been performing at the festival said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and a handkerchief around his neck firing into the food area with what appeared to be an assault rifle.

Jack van Breen and his bandmates dived under the stage before hearing someone shout: "Why are you doing this?"

He said the reply came "Because I'm really angry".

President Donald Trump tweeted: "Law Enforcement is at the scene of shootings in Gilroy, California. Reports are that shooter has not yet been apprehended. Be careful and safe!"

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, tweeted: "This is nothing short of horrific. Tonight, CA stands with the Gilroy community. My office is monitoring the situation closely. Grateful for the law enforcement's efforts and their continued work as this situation develops."

One of the largest food festivals in the US, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is an annual three-day event south of San Jose at the outdoor Christmas Hill Park.

The event's website says weapons of any kind are prohibited and that 4,000 people work and volunteer at the festival.
A gunman opens fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, killing three people and wounding at least twelve others. The gunman is killed after engaging with the police. Police believe an accomplice is still at large.