Multiple victims in active shooter situation at California food fest: reports
Police are responding to an active shooter situation — with multiple victims — at a food festival in California, according to cops.
“Holy s–t I had just left the Gilroy Garlic Festival when some guy started shooting up the place,” wrote journalist and Bay Area resident Sarah Belle Lin on Twitter. “I’m so scared for all the families and people still there.”
Ambulance crews were receiving reports of at least 11 victims at the Christmas Hill Park event — described online as “three full days of great garlicky food, live entertainment, and family fun.”
“Who shoots up a garlic festival bruh?” asked one attendee, who was captured on cellphone video.
The footage shows countless people running in all different directions.
“Random shooters started shooting everywhere,” tweeted Lizet Gonzalez. “We’re still waiting while they find them.”
Gilroy Police officials confirmed the active shooter situation to The Post on Sunday night, saying there was at least one gunman on the loose at the festival. They could not confirm if there were any victims, or whether the suspect had been captured or located.
“It was just rapid firing,” witness Julissa Contreras told NBC Bay Area.
She described the gunman as a white male, in his mid 30s, wearing a cap and sunglasses.
“I could see him shooting in just every direction,” Contreras said. “He wasn’t aiming at anyone specifically. It was just left to right, right to left.”
The man “was able to shoot three or four shots a second,” according to Contreras.
She told NBC that he was wielding a “semi-automatic rifle” and wearing “utility” clothing, with straps holding ammunition clips.
“He definitely was prepared for what he was doing,” Contreras said.
Additional footage posted by the festivalgoer who shared the earlier cellphone video showed hordes of people attempting to evacuate “in 100 degree heat.”
“This is actually crazy,” she can be heard saying. “How do you shoot at the garlic festival? Like who you got beef with at the garlic festival?”
Evenny Reyes, 13, described the mayhem to the East Bay Times — and said she saw several people injured.
“We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandana wrapped around his leg because he got shot,” she told the local newspaper. “And there were people on the ground, crying. There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out.”
Herman Solis, another attendee, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was one of countless people who “ran and ducked for cover.”
“You could hear the bullets whizzing by,” he said. “It was unreal…It was chaos.”
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