Police are responding to reports of a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
The Gilroy Police Department tweeted that the scene is still active.
“The hearts of Gilroy PD and entire community go out to the victims of today’s shooting at the Garlic Festival,” the tweet said. “If you are looking for a loved one, please go to the reunification center at Gavilan College at parking lot B. #GilroyActiveshooter.”
Thirteen-year-old Evenny Reyes of Gilroy told The Mercury News that she and her friends had spent the day at the festival.
“We were just leaving and we saw a guy with a bandana wrapped around his leg because he got shot. And there were people on the ground, crying,” she told the newspaper. “There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out.”
Reyes said 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,” she told the newspaper.
A law enforcement official says ATF is among the agencies responding to an incident in Gilroy, California.
The annual food festival is held at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, about 30 miles southeast of San Jose. Sunday was the festival’s final day. It routinely attracts 100,000 people, according to previous attendance records.
Gilroy has a population of about 57,000 people, and is widely known for its garlic production and processing.
The festival dates back to 1979, when the first festival was held.
Witness Julissa Contreras described what she saw in a Facebook post.
“…my dad and I were about 20 ft from where the (gunman) started shooting ppl. He had a semi automatic rifle,” she wrote.
She described the shooter she saw as a white man in his late-20s or early-30s wearing military-style clothing. He was shot by police, she said.
“We’re hearing there was more than one person shooting. We saw one guy… Another (gunman) may still be at large,” Contreras wrote.