At least 3 dead in California garlic festival shooting

By Jessie Yeung, Veronica Rocha, Joshua Berlinger and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN

Updated 4:04 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019
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4:02 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Here’s what we know about the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting

A man opened fire at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California Sunday night. Nearly 100,000 people attend the weekend-long event each year. 

Our live coverage of the shooting has ended but you can read more about it here.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The victims: At least three people are dead including a 6-year-old boy, and 12 more have been injured, police say. At least one of those people is in critical condition at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. A spokesperson for the medical center said their patients are between the ages of 12 and 69-years old.
  • The suspect: Police identified the suspect as 19-year-old Santino William Legan. He was fatally shot by police about a minute after opening fire. Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said the shooter was armed with an AK-47 assault-type rifle. Instagram posts bearing the name of the suspected gunman mentioned a white supremacist book and showed a picture of people walking around the event shortly before the shooting began.

 What we still don’t know:

  • The motive: The FBI said they are working with Gilroy police to investigate the shooter’s motive, any ideological leanings and if the shooter was associated with anyone or any groups.
  • A second suspect: Chief Smithee said the department had “reports of a potential second suspect” but do not know if they did any shooting or what exactly their role was in the event.
3:18 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

All patients at St. Louise Regional Hospital have been discharged

KGO
KGO

There are currently no patients from the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival left at St. Louise Regional Hospital.

Joy Alexiou a spokesperson for Santa Clara County Health System said the patients that St. Louise received Sunday night were discharged or never admitted.

In total, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and St. Louise received 11 patients with gunshot wounds and 8 with injuries that were not gunshot related, Alexiou said.

Updated numbers: There are still five patients receiving treatment at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. One is in critical condition, one is in serious condition, one is in fair condition and the other two have requested that no information about them be released.

Because she can only speak for the Santa Clara County Health System, Alexiou could not give updates about how many patients remain at other facilities in the region, such as Stanford Hospital.

2:11 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Ten victims remain hospitalized after the shooting

A total of 12 people were wounded at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, according to Mitch Matlow, public information officer with the South Bay Incident Management Team. Four people are dead, including the shooter, Matlow said.  

10 people remain in area hospitals. Here is an update on the condition of the victims at each hospital:

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (5 patients)

Five patients remain at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Their ages range from 12 to 69 years old, according to Joy Alexiou a spokesperson for Santa Clara County Health System. 

Breakdown:

  • 1 is in critical condition
  • 2 are in serious condition
  • 2 are in fair condition
  • 1 was treated and discharged

St. Louise Regional Hospital (3 patients)

Three patients remain at St. Louise Hospital, according to Alexiou.

Breakdown:

  • 3 remain in the hospital in serious to fair condition

Stanford Hospital (2 patients)

Two patients remain at Stanford Hospital, according to Julie Greicius, a spokesperson with Stanford Medicine. Greicius could not tell CNN the types of injuries their patients have.   

Breakdown:

  • 2 patients remain in care
  • 1 was treated and discharged

1:54 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

The FBI is assisting Gilroy PD in determining the motive of the shooter

From CNN's Cheri Mossburg and Sarah Moon

The FBI is working with police to investigate the motive of the Gilroy shooter.

FBI special agent Craig Fair said the agency is assisting the Gilroy Police Department to determine any ideological leanings and whether the shooter is associated with anyone or any groups.

The possibility of a second suspect is also still being investigated, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said at a news conference Monday.

Here's what he said:

"We don't have a motive for the shooting as yet. We did have reports of a potential second suspect. We don't have any confirmation that any second suspect did any shooting, but we certainly are investigating all leads to try to determine who that potential second suspect is and what exactly that person's role was," Smithee said.
1:39 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Gilroy police chief confirms shooter used AK-47 assault-type rifle in shooting

Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said that three officers on the scene engaged the suspect who was armed with "an assault-type rifle" in "less than a minute" after receiving reports of the shooting at the festival. He confirmed that the officers fatally wounded the suspect.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of the officers for being able to engage this guy as quickly as they did because we had thousands of people there in a very small area," Smithee said.

"You know, it could have gone so much worse so fast," he said.

Smithee said that there three confirmed deceased victims from the shooting.

"We have one who is a 6-year-old, a 6-year-old male victim. We also had a 13-year-old female victim and then we had another male victim in his 20s," Smithee said.

Smithee said that police do not have a motive for the shooting as yet. On reports of a potential second suspect, Smithee said the police don't have any confirmation of a second shooter but they are "investigating all leads to try to determine who that potential second suspect is and what exactly that person's role was."

Smithee said that investigators found that the suspect used an "AK-47 type assault rifle" that was purchased legally in the state of Nevada on July the 9 this year.

He also confirmed the name of the suspect as Santino William Legan.

"I say that name with some hesitation because I don't believe that somebody like this deserves the notoriety or the recognition," he said.

2:44 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Father of 6-year-old victim: "I couldn't believe what was happening"

The Mercury News
The Mercury News

The father of the young boy who was killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday said the shooting felt like a dream.

Alberto Romero was home in San Jose late Sunday afternoon when he got a call from his wife who was at the festival. She told him someone had shot their 6-year-old son in the back, her in the stomach and hand and her mother in the leg.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening, that what she was saying was a lie, that maybe I was dreaming,” Romero, a 33-year-old electrician, told CNN affiliate The Mercury News newspaper on Monday.

Romero also said that five minutes after doctors told him his son was in critical condition, they told him that the boy had died.

His son, Stephen, just graduated kindergarten and was excited to start first grade.

Romero said Joseph Corona, who is a family friend, came to the hospital to support him. He described Stephen as "always positive."

“He’s a caring loving kid, always had a smile on his face,” Corona said. He continued to describe Stephen as "joyful, always wanted to play, always positive."

Stephen was one of the confirmed fatalities Sunday after a gunman went on a shooting rampage at the crowded festival before being shot by police.

Romero said his wife, Barbara Aquirre, was at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in a medically-induced coma and that his mother-in-law, Barbara Velasquez Aquirre was also being treated there.

2:44 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Classmate: Shooting suspect "didn't stand out" at school

CNN's Paul P. Murphy

Josh Carman told CNN he knew who Santino Legan was, but didn't know him well. When Carman was a senior at Gilroy High School, Legan was sophomore.

"I never had any classes with him or anything, so we never really got acquainted, I just have definitely seen him around school," he said.  

What Carman does remember is that Legan, "wasn't terribly out of place." 

"In other words he wasn’t the type of person that everyone knew, but he didn’t stand out as being too abnormal," he said.
12:14 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Medical Center: Five remaining patients range from 12 to 69-years old

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center received seven patients with gunshot wounds from the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, according to Joy Alexiou a spokesperson for Santa Clara County Health System. 

Alexiou said five patients remain in their care as of Monday morning after one patient was discharged and another was transferred to Stanford.

Patients range in age between 12 and 69-years old.

Of the remaining five patients at Santa Clara, one is in critical condition, two are in serious condition and two are in fair condition.

Alexiou said the hospital was prepared and praised the responsiveness of the staff and emergency department.

“You don’t want to see events like this ever, but as an emergency department and a trauma center we are well prepared to respond to these type of events and the most serious injuries," she said at a news conference. Alexiou continued to say it was a "great team effort from everyone involved."

1:09 p.m. ET, July 29, 2019

Instagram account bearing the suspect's name references garlic festival, white supremacist book

From CNN's Patricia DiCarlo

Instagram posts bearing the name of the suspected Gilroy Garlic Festival gunman mentioned a white supremacist book and showed a picture of people walking around the event shortly before the shooting began.

One included a photograph of the Garlic Festival with the words “Ayyy garlic festival time Come get wasted on overpriced sh**.”

The other, made about an hour later with a photo of a sign of Smokey Bear with a sign reading “Fire Danger High Today” said “Read Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard. Why overcrowd towns and pave more open space to make room for hordes of mestizos and Silicon Valley white tw**s?”  

The Instagram account was started four days ago, with the handle santino_williamlegan.

A mestizo is a person of mixed descent, usually white and Hispanic, or white and American Indian.   

“Right is Might” was first published in the late 1800's and has been described as a white supremacist text, promoting anarchy, and vilifying Christianity, calling Jesus the "true Prince of Evil." The natural order, according to the book, is a world at war in which the strong must vanquish the weak, and white men must rule over those of color. 

Instagram has taken down the profile.