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‘He was shooting left & right’: California food festival marred by deadly shooting (VIDEOS) ‘Everybody screaming & running’: Witnesses recall panic & horror at Gilroy festival shooting
(about 3 hours later)
Multiple people have been killed and injured in a gun rampage at Gilroy garlic festival, a popular annual family event in California. Witnesses say the perpetrator has been shooting “left and right.” Witnesses described chaotic scenes as terrified people fled for their lives after a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, a popular family event in California, killing three.
Police and emergency personnel responded to reports of a shooting at Gilroy's Christmas Hill Park at around 5:30pm.  The first gunshots were heard around 5:40pm local time, immediately causing confusion and panic at Gilroy’s Christmas Hill Park in Santa Clara County.
“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,” an alleged witness, Evenny Reyes, told San Jose Mercury news. “We heard it distinctly. I just didn’t recognize the first round. The second time I did, [when] they were getting closer,” a witness told local media. “I just started running. I left everything and ran.”
Videos shared online show people abandoning food stands and fleeing the park in fear, with bangs heard in the background. The Gilroy Garlic Festival is a popular family event in California, and many were there with small children when the shooting started.
Nearly three hours after the initial incident, additional shots were heard in the area, Elissa Harrington a reporter for KTVU tweeted, noting seeing "police in full tactical gear" searching a nearby creek with dogs and helicopters flying overhead. Some got away on foot, while others managed to escape after quickly hopping in their vehicles.
“He came ready to shoot because he was wearing a protective vest,” one of the vendors at the festival, Michael Paz, told SF Chronicle, describing seeing at least one gunman, aged around 30, armed with a rapid-fire rifle. “I knew what had happened. We just screamed and yelled at everybody to get in the cars,” one man recalled, describing the horror.
“He was shooting left; he was shooting right without any particular aim.” “People were just running for any exit [so] they could get out of the park. Everybody was just screaming, running,” another man said, still shaken by the tragedy.
Footage shared online showed confusion and panic as people were running away from the food stands of extremely popular Californian gastronomy festival. Some described the assailant as dressed in fatigues and firing “randomly.”
Local medics initially said that one person was killed and 11 received injuries in the rampage. However, police later put the death toll at three, adding that more than a dozen people were shot. “He came ready to shoot because he was wearing a protective vest,” a vendor at the festival, Michael Paz, told the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that the suspect was a man in his 30s, armed with an assault-type rifle.
The attacker was gunned down by law enforcement, Scott Smithee, Gilroy Chief of Police announced during a media briefing. Local medics initially said that one person was killed and 11 wounded in the rampage. However, police later confirmed that three people died and more than a dozen were hurt.
The attacker was gunned down by the officers, Gilroy Chief of Police Scott Smithee told reporters. There were no immediate reports about his identity.
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