Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting: Boy, 6, Is Among 4 Dead In California
Speaker 1: 00:00 Officials in the city of Gilroy, say the investigation into yesterday's shooting is continuing. Three people, a six year old boy, a 13 year old girl, and a man in his twenties were killed yesterday afternoon at the end of family day at the Gilroy garlic festival. At least 12 people were injured during today's news conference. Gilroy mayor Roland Velazco says he shocked Speaker 2: 00:22 mass gun violence is an epidemic in the United States and yet one never imagined such a thing can happen here. And our beautiful community, Speaker 1: 00:31 a 19 year old man named Santina Legon has been identified as the shooter. He was shot to death by police at the scene. Joining me is KQ eds, Rachel Myro and Rachel, welcome. Speaker 3: 00:43 Glad to be here. Speaker 1: 00:45 What do we know so far about this suspected shooter? Speaker 3: 00:48 Well, we know that he was 19 years old, uh, that um, his, uh, his social media presence gave some clues as to what appears to be widespread hatred might be attached to a white nationalism. Um, based on some of the hints about his reading material, uh, at the, at the press conference held earlier today at the Gilroy Police Department headquarters. The, the FBI didn't, uh, didn't offer us too many details. They're still trying to figure it out themselves, but they have a couple of dozen agents still scouring the scene. And of course, uh, they have investigators looking into his history online and in real life Speaker 1: 01:32 in that news conference today we have a clip from Gilroy police chief Scott Smithy who said he was reluctant to even use the name of the shooter. Speaker 2: 01:40 And I say that name with some hesitation because I don't believe that somebody like this deserves the notoriety of the recognition. Speaker 1: 01:48 Rachel, this festival apparently has tight security. How are policing the shooter got into the festival? Speaker 3: 01:54 That's a good question. They have not actually offered details. We've, we've obviously heard some reports that the shooter managed to, uh, kind of fence walk. So there's a creek that runs through right alongside a, these festival grounds and that the shooter might've sort of snuck through, possibly cut a hole in the fence to do it. I just talked actually with a family that was about 50 feet away from the shooter when he started shooting. And they say that, you know, they could see him approach turn back as if he was thinking a second time about what he was about to do and then turned back, walk into the crowd and start shooting. Speaker 1: 02:32 What weapons did he have? Do we know? Speaker 3: 02:35 Uh, it appears that he had some kind of an assault rifle when we were hearing earlier, uh, the Gilroy police chief Scott Smithy choking up, he was talking about how three officers armed only with handguns immediately approached and engage the shooter. Uh, but you know, up against the guy carrying, uh, some kind of an AK assault rifle that he had purchased in Nevada, brought into California illegally. Speaker 1: 03:01 Referencing what you said about speaking to those witnesses, what have you found out about what the scene of the shooting was like yesterday? Speaker 3: 03:09 Well, you know, this was the tail end of a three day festival. The Gilroy garlic festival is, um, is the pride and joy of this community. There are people here who have been coming since they were diapers and are now adults. In fact, the family I was talking to that was the case. You had a dad and his girlfriend bringing their, a twin 11 year old daughters to enjoy something that has always been a fun family friendly focused event and to have someone walk in and just turn it into a nightmare, it's a very sad thing and people feel a great deal of distress about it. Speaker 1: 03:49 Are Police still looking for a second suspect? Speaker 3: 03:53 That's what I understand at now. I should mention, we don't know yet whether that suspect is somebody who was armed and seeking to shoot into the crowd last night or was in some way an assistance to the shooter or in in some ways, uh, supporting him. We just don't know the details yet, but we do know that they are looking for a second person. Speaker 1: 04:16 It apparently the police response time was very quick. Can you tell us about that? Speaker 3: 04:22 Yes. Uh, we, when we heard from, uh, your police chief Scott Smith, he, he was saying that, you know, there was a heavy police presence across the festival grounds that they were, you know, teams of officers deployed to every different section of the festival. And that's why they were able to immediately engage the shooter when he started shooting. Speaker 1: 04:41 Did the gunman fire at police? Do we know that? Speaker 3: 04:44 We believe so. Definitely. It was the sort of thing where the, the chief and other officials wanted to acknowledge the heroism of police officers charging into a situation where they were definitely outgunned. Speaker 1: 05:00 How are the people injured in the shooting? Do we have an update on those conditions at all? Speaker 3: 05:05 They range from fair to critical. A number of people have been sent to a number of different hospitals in the region as far north as the, as Stanford, up in Palo Alto on the peninsula. And, uh, it, it really, I mean, there's folks who twisted their ankle running away to much more severe situations. Speaker 1: 05:24 I've been speaking with KQ Edis, Rachel Myra, Rachel, thank you very much. Speaker 3: 05:29 Thank you.
