‘Everybody screaming & running’: Witnesses recall panic & horror at Gilroy festival shooting

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.

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 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.

Some got away on foot, while others managed to escape after quickly hopping in their vehicles.

“I knew what had happened. We just screamed and yelled at everybody to get in the cars,” one man recalled, describing the horror.

And we got out of there as fast as we could. As we were leaving, [we saw] two women and a baby. We picked them up in the back of the truck, and got them to safety.

“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.

It was just crazy.

Some described the assailant as dressed in fatigues and firing “randomly.”

“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.

He was shooting left, he was shooting right, without any particular aim.

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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