Currents News Staff
New details have emerged regarding a shooting that occurred during the closing hours of the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California.
The shooting claimed three lives. Two of the victims were children.
Police have identified the suspect as 19-year-old Santino William Legan, who was killed in a confrontation with police.
He took the lives of a 13-year-old girl and six-year-old Stephen Romero. The little boy’s mother was also shot, but managed to call her husband.
“She said that they shot my son and they took him from her. I couldn’t believe what was happening. That what she was saying was a lie. Maybe I was dreaming,” said Alberto Romero, Stephen’s father.
His wife is now in a medically induced coma, and is one of at least 12 injured.
Police say that Legan bought the assault rifle used in the shooting legally in Nevada just a few weeks ago. They responded within one minute of the gunfire, shooting and killing the suspect.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the officers being able to engage this guy as quickly as they did, because we had thousands of people there in a very small area, and it could have gone so much worse,” said Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee.
Police believe the shooter avoided on-site security at the festival by cutting a hole in the back fence.
Still uncertain is whether or not the shooter acted alone. Police are investigating the possibility of a second suspect.