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Vigil Honors California Food Festival Shooting Victims as Police Search for
Motive

VOA News

   Hundreds of people gathered Monday outside City Hall in the California
   city of Gilroy for a vigil honoring the victims killed and injured by a
   teenager who attacked a popular food festival.

   Those in attendance lit candles, listened to speeches from local
   leaders and joined in chants of "Gilroy strong."

   "We cannot let the bastard that did this tear us down," Mayor Roland
   Velasco said. "Now the person that did this took something from us.
   They took a small town festival that has generated millions of dollars
   over the last 41 years. They took that from us. He took that from us."

   Authorities are still trying to figure out the motive behind Sunday's
   attack in this city about 170 kilometers southeast of San Francisco.

   The shooter, identified as 19-year-old Santino William Legan, appeared
   to randomly target people with an "assault-type rifle" on the last day
   of the Gilroy Garlic festival, according to Gilroy Police Chief Scot
   Smithee.

   The dead included a six-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in
   his 20s. Twelve other festival-goers were wounded in the attack, which
   ended with police killing the shooter.

   Smithee told reporters Monday that police responded in less than a
   minute after the shooter opening fire.

   "It could have gone so much worse so fast," he said.

   Authorities said they were searching Monday for a possible second
   suspect, following unconfirmed reports by eyewitnesses that Legan may
   have had an accomplice.

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