Witnesses describe panic, chaos after shooting at Calif. food festival

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GILROY, CALIF.

Witnesses to the shooting Sunday at an annual food festival in Northern California described the confusion and panic at the scene, the Mercury News reported.

Evenny Reyes of Gilroy, 13, told the newspaper that spent the day at the Gilroy Garlic Festival with her friends and relatives.

"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," Reyes said. "There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out."

Reyes told the Mercury News that 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 – was crying, people were screaming."

Todd Jones, a sound engineer, told the newspaper that he was at the front of the festival's Vineyard stage when he heard what sounded like a firework. "But then it started to increase, more rapidly, which sounded more like gunfire, and at that point people realized what was happening," Jones said.

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the scene of the shooting.

At least five people were hospitalized Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, a hospital spokeswoman says.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Joy Alexiou says the hospital has received two victims from the shooting and expects three more. She had no information on their conditions.

At least five people were hospitalized Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, a hospital spokeswoman says.

Video first posted on social media sites showed people running for safety at the festival. The festival is a nationally known three-day event that attracts thousands of garlic lovers. Sunday was the final day of the festival.