GILROY, Calif. (AP) — The 15 people wounded in a shooting at a food festival in Northern California were taken to multiple hospitals and their conditions ranged from fair to critical.
Several of the victims from the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival were in surgery Sunday night. At least five had been treated and released, said officials from the hospitals.
Earlier Sunday, Stanford Medical Center reported having two patients from the shooting. Spokeswoman Julie Greicius said she had no details on their injuries or conditions. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center received five victims, spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said. She also had no information on their conditions.
The gunman is dead along with three other victims. Police said the shooter gained entry to the packed festival by cutting through a fence to avoid the tight security, including metal detectors.
Smithee says police are looking for a possible second suspect, who may have accompanied the gunman. He says a search is underway to find that person.
Witnesses to the shooting Sunday at an annual food festival in Northern California described the confusion and panic at the scene, the Mercury News reported. Evenny Reyes of Gilroy, 13, told the newspaper that spent the day at the Gilroy Garlic Festival with her friends and relatives.
"We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandanna wrapped around his leg because he got shot. And there were people on the ground, crying," Reyes said. "There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out."
Reyes told the Mercury News that she didn't run at first because the gunshots sounded like fireworks. "It started going for five minutes, maybe three. It was like the movies - everyone was crying, people were screaming."
Todd Jones, a sound engineer, told the newspaper that he was at the front of the festival's Vineyard stage when he heard what sounded like a firework. "But then it started to increase, more rapidly, which sounded more like gunfire, and at that point people realized what was happening," Jones said.
Edward and Jane Jacobucci said they were standing at their booth selling garlic graters when the shooting started. Edward Jacobucci said the shooting was "absolute chaos." ''It happened right in front of our booth," he said.
Jane Jacobucci described the shooter as a tall, thin young man in camouflage with a big gun. She said her husband threw her to the ground when the shooting started.
The band Tin Man was just starting an encore when shots rang out at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California. Singer Jack van Breen said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and grayish handkerchief around his neck fire into the food area with what looked like an assault rifle.
Van Breen and other members of the band dove under the stage. Van Breen says he heard someone shout: "Why are you doing this?" and the reply: "Because I'm really angry. "
His bandmate Vlad Malinovsky from Walnut Creek, California, said he heard a lot of shots and then it stopped. Later, law enforcement came by and told the band members and others hiding with them to come out with their hands up.
The shooting occurred during the annual three-day celebration featuring food, cooking competitions and music that attracts more than 100,000 people about 80 miles south of San Francisco. Sunday was the final day of the festival.
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