SACRAMENTO (Reuters) – Police and ambulances raced to a shooting at a food festival in California on Sunday, with three people reported dead and several injured, and video posted on social media showing people at the event running for cover as shots rang out.
A local city councilman, Dion Bracco, told The New York Times three people were killed and 12 injured in the shooting on the last day of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, an annual three-day event south of San Jose. He did not know if the 12 injured included the three fatalities, the newspaper said.
One suspect was in custody, Bracco said.
“They don’t know if there were more, so they have to treat it as an active situation,” he told the newspaper. “We have police out here from as far away as San Jose.”
NBC Bay Area had reported that ambulance crews were told 11 people were “down” after the shooting.
Local hospital officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Aerial footage showed the festival grounds apparently deserted but with many emergency and police vehicles on surrounding streets and police in bullet-proof gear.
“Be careful and safe!” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter.
Footage uploaded to social media appeared to show festival attendees scattering in fear and confusion as loud popping sounds could be heard in the background.
“What’s going on?” a woman can be heard asking on one video. “Who’d shoot up a garlic festival?”
California Governor Gavin Newsom said his office was monitoring the situation closely. “This is nothing short of horrific,” Newsom wrote on Twitter.
