Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
More than 12 people were hurt and three people – including a 6-year-old boy named Stephen Romero – were killed on July 28 when a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. The city, with a population of 50,000, is some 80 miles southeast of San Francisco, and its Garlic Festival draws 100,000 to it every year. During the final day of the three-day festival, the gunman – who police identified as 19-year-old Santino William Legan – allegedly snuck into the fairgrounds by cutting a hole in the metal fence, which allowed him to avoid the metal detectors and security checkpoints. Witnesses claim the suspect was dressed in green with a grayish neckerchief wrapped around his face. Witnesses also claimed to hear the shooter say he was ‘very angry’ when asked why he was committing the atrocity. Officers engaged the suspected shooter within a minute of shots ringing out and killed him in the standoff.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
First responders near the entrance of Christmas Hill Park, where the Gilroy Garlic Festival was coming to an end of the last day where an active gunman opened fire. Authorities say there may potentially be a second suspect involved in the shooting.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee speaks at a press conference at Gavilan College following a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. “We believe based on witness statements that there was a second individual involved in some way, we just don’t know in what way,” he said at the presser.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
Gilroy Garlic Festival executive director Brian Bowe reacts as he speaks at a press conference following the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. One of the victims killed was a six-year-old boy named Stephen Romero.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
Festival attendees are being transported on a bus, after a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Videos of panicked attendees fleeing for their lives were posted to social media.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
Police officers escort people from Christmas Hill Park following a deadly shooting during the Gilroy Garlic Festival, in Gilroy, Calif. Authorities confronted the alleged shooter a minute after the shooting began. The shooter was killed.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
Ana Lilia Cano, left, with daughter Paulina Perez, and Gildardo Leyva, right, wait for relatives at a reunification center at Gavilan College following a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. More than a dozen people were injured in the shooting.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
A police officer dressed in SWAT gear speaks with fire crews brought in from neighboring communities at the first aid center at Gilroy High School following a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. The suspected shooter was identified as 19-year-old Santino William Legan.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
Police stay focused on a target after a deadly shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, CA. The alleged shooter reportedly identified himself as Italian and Iranian, and reportedly made racist remarks on a now-deleted Instagram page.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting
“It’s sort of a nightmare you hope you never have to live in reality,” Police Chief Smithee said after the shooting. Governor Gavin Newsom said on Twitter that the shooting was “nothing short of horrific.”
