Gilroy attacker killed self after officers shot him, officials say
LOS ANGELES — The gunman who opened fire on a California food festival killed himself after officers shot him multiple times, officials said Friday, correcting previous police accounts that the officers fired the fatal bullet.
Police gave the update after the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-coroner’s Office said 19-yearold Santino William Legan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Legan killed three people and injured 13 others Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Authorities say they have not yet been able to determine his motive.
Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee told reporters that the timeline remains the same: Three police officers responded in less than a minute and fired multiple rounds when Legan turned his Ak-47-style semi-automatic rifle on them. Smithee said that the officers hit him multiple times and he fell to the ground with the rifle.
“He was able to get one more round off, and he was able to shoot himself in the head,” the police chief said.
Smithee said he was “a little surprised” to hear that Legan had shot himself.
“I don’t think that changes anything about the heroics of our officers,” Smithee said.
The chief did not know how many times police fired at him or how many bullets struck him. A full coroner’s report is pending.
Legan killed 6-year-old Stephen Romero and 13-year-old Keyla Salazar, of San Jose, with Trevor Irby, 25, of Romulus, New York, on the last day of the festival.
John Bennett, the FBI’S special agent in charge in San Francisco, has said Legan did not appear to be targeting a group and that he did not seem to follow an ideology.
Legan’s social media raised questions after he urged his Instagram followers on the day of the attack to read a 19th-century book popular with white supremacists.