GILROY, California, July 29 (Gephardt Daily/UPI) — Law enforcement officials in California say a gunman killed three people, including a six-year-old boy, before being shot and killed by police Sunday night at the famed Gilroy Garlic Festival about 70 miles outside the San Francisco.
The revised death toll, which includes the gunman — and the child victim, identified by CNN as 6-year-old Stephen Romero — now stands at four, with 11 others being wounded.
“This is one of those press conferences you never want to give in your community,” said Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee. “And it is the sort of nightmare you never want to live in reality, but unfortunately we find ourselves in the circumstances we have to live in this today.
Smithee said the shooter was carrying a rifle when he entered the festival grounds after cutting a hole in a security fence which runs along a nearby creek.
Smithee said Gilroy police officers engaged the assailant within a minute of the shooting, but by then 14 people had been gunned down.
The motive behind the shooting was unknown, he said.
Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco called it a “tragic and senseless crime.”
“I want to express my extreme shock and sadness about what happened here today,” he said.
President Donald Trump tweeted a warning for everyone in the area to stay safe.
“Law enforcement is at the scene of shootings in Gilroy, California,” he said. “Reports are that shooter has not yet been apprehended. Be careful and safe!”
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ San Francisco office said it is investigating.
“ATF sends our sincerest condolences to the victims, their families and friends and the entire Gilroy community,” the bureau said Monday. “We will continue to work alongside our local, state and federal partners throughout the investigation.”
The shooting occurred during the final day of the three-day annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, which began in 1979.
Smithee said a manhunt was underway for a possible second suspect, though that person’s role wasn’t known.
“We believe there was a second individual involved in some way, we just don’t know in what way,” he said during a press conference Sunday.
Video from the shooting shows people screaming as they try to hide under tables, behind tents and over fences.
“It was frightening. There was blood everywhere, it was a mess,” eyewitness Miquita Price told CNN. “I’ve never seen nothing like that in my life.”
