Gilroy Garlic Festival gunman was shot by police less than a minute after shooting began

GILROY, Calif. —  When the shooting started Sunday at the garlic festival, Gilroy police officers were patrolling the event.

Three officers began shooting at the gunman in less than a minute, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said Monday at a news conference, “despite the fact that they were outgunned, with their handguns, against a rifle.”

“We had thousands of people there in a very small area,” Smithee said, his ears tearing up a little. “It could have gotten so much worse, so fast. I’m really proud that they got there as quickly as they did.”

“There absolutely would have been more bloodshed. With the number of people in the small area they were in, I think it’s very, very fortunate that they were able to engage him as quickly as they did,” he added.

Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco said it “takes remarkable bravery to run to a shooting when the natural reaction for all of us is to run away.”

The famed festival was winding down when the gunfire broke out at 5:30 p.m. Authorities have said 19-year-old Santino William Legan cut through a fence at the back of the park where the festival took place to avoid the security and metal detectors.

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Kelly Ramirez, right hugs a mourner at a vigil outside Gilroy City Hall. “We cannot let the bastard who did this tear us down,” Mayor Roland Velasco said. “The person who did this took something from us.”  (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

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Robert Ramierz, 52, and his sons Robbie 10 and Andrew, 7 all from Gilroy, center, listen to speakers during a candlelight vigil on Monday.  (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

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A woman is overcome with grief during the singing of the National Anthem during a candlelight vigil at Gilroy City Hall on Monday.  (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

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A police officer photographs a car outside the home linked to the suspected Gilroy Garlic Festival gunman.  (Noah Berger/Associated Press)

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FBI personnel pass a ticket booth at the Gilroy Garlic Festival Monday, July 29, 2019 in Calif., the morning after a gunman killed at least three people, including a 6-year-old boy, and wounding about 15 others. A law enforcement official identified the gunman, who was shot and killed by police, as Santino William Legan. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)  (Noah Berger/AP)

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Law enforcement officials load paper bags gathered at a house in the 300 block of Churchill Place in Gilroy.   (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

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Two people stand outside the emergency entrance to St. Louise Regional Hospital on Sunday in Gilroy, Calif. A gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival earlier in the day.  (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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A couple stands in a parking lot near the site of the mass shooting in Gilroy on Sunday.  (Thomas Mendoza / Associated Press)

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People leave the festival following the shooting Sunday on the final day of the three-day event.   (Nhat V. Meyer / Associated Press)

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Festival volunteer Denise Buessing, left, embraces fellow volunteer Marsha Struzik on Sunday at a reunification center in a parking lot at Gavilan College in Gilroy.  (Josie Lepe / Associated Press)

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A police officer stands guard outside Gilroy High School, which is near the Christmas Hill Park festival site. Crisis counselors were set to be on hand at the school Monday, according to its website.   (Nhat V. Meyer / Associated Press)

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Police officers escort people from Christmas Hill Park on Sunday night following the shooting.   (Noah Berger / Associated Press)

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Grim festival attendees leave the Gilroy Garlic Festival by bus.   (Josie Lepe / Associated Press)

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A woman stands in front of the emergency entrance of St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, Calif.  (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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Gilroy Garlic Festival executive director Brian Bowe pauses while addressing the media at a news conference in a parking lot at Gavilan College on Sunday.  (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Legan purchased his assault-style weapon legally in Nevada on July 9, Smithee said. The gunman was originally from Gilroy but spent some time in Nevada living with family, he said.

Law enforcement officials are still searching for a motive in the shooting and to determine whether the gunman worked with an accomplice, officials said.

“We don’t have any confirmation that any second suspect did any shooting,” Smithee said. “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.”

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July 29, 2019

The shooting killed a 6-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s, Smithee said.

“Any time a life is lost, it’s a tragedy,” Smithee said. “But when it’s young people, it’s even worse. It’s very difficult.”

A number of roads remained closed Monday in Gilroy as 30 law enforcement officials worked to gather evidence across a crime scene that spans “many, many acres,” said Craig Fair, deputy special agent in charge at the FBI.

“It’s done very slowly, it’s done very methodically,” Fair said. “It’s done for a reason, should we have to use that evidence for prosecution later on.”

The number of injuries from the shooting rose by one Monday, to 12 total, San Jose Fire Department spokesman Mitch Matlow said. The original number of injuries, 11, did not include one person went unassisted to a hospital, he said. The number of deaths remains at four, including that of the gunman.