3 killed, 15 injured in mass shooting before police kill gunman at California garlic festival

At least four people were killed and 15 more injured after a mass shooting at an annual food festival in Northern California on Sunday. Among the deceased was the gunman, who was shot and killed by police.

Gilroy Chief of Police Scot Smithee said authorities were still searching for a possible second suspect in the shootings at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, although it’s unclear if that person also fired on the crowd or just assisted the shooter.

Smithee said the gunman used an assault rifle and gained entry to the packed festival by cutting through a fence to avoid the tight security, including metal detectors. Police confronted him within a minute of shots being fired, the chief added.

Officials had not identified those killed, but the San Francisco Chronicle reported a six-year-old boy was among the dead.

Stanford Medical Center and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center were treating the injured from the mass shooting. Hospital spokespeople said conditions of those admitted to the medical facilities ranged from fair to serious.

“Today the unimaginable happened,” said Christopher Ranch, one of the major garlic producers in Gilroy. He said the shooting had “shattered” the small city’s beloved annual event.

Witnesses described confusion and panic as shots rang out at the festival about 5:40 p.m. Pacific time, with people running for safety.

Christian Swain had been performing with his band when the shooting began.

“You could hear bullets, and the bullets were hitting the ground. You can see them go up, and that’s when I called out, ‘It’s a real gun.’ So, the crew and the band ran and hid underneath the stage, we were hiding underneath the stage. We could hear more gunfire happening, bullets were hitting the stage that we were hiding underneath. And then eventually it stopped,” he said.

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.

He said he heard someone shout: “Why are you doing this? “and the reply: “because I’m really angry. “

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

“We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandana 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.”

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene of the shooting.

Gilroy is a city of roughly 57,000 located about 80 miles southeast of San Francisco and is widely known for its garlic production and processing. It’s dubbed the “Garlic Capital of the World,” and the annual garlic festival is 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, which dates back to 1979.

The Gilroy Police Department 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.”

President Trump tweeted about the shooting Sunday night, asking people to “be careful and safe!”