SAN JOSE, Calif. — Moments of sheer panic raced over families at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday night.
“He arrived, he started shooting at the ground, he started shooting to the left then to the right,” Nely Andres, an aunt of a 12-year-old shot during the festival said.
Laura Dominquez was at the Garlic Festival with her family when she said her 12-year-old daughter was shot while playing in a bounce house.
“I had no idea my daughter had been shot until some of my relatives pointed out that her leg was bleeding,” Dominquez said.
Dominquez said when the shooting started, she ran for cover. After the shooting stopped, a family member told her that her daughter had been shot and was bleeding from the leg.
“We were really desperate because we saw him and he was walking towards us,” she said.
According to police, the situation could have been much worse if not for the quick actions of three Gilroy police officers who were able to shoot and kill the suspect in less than a minute.
“I saw him and then he started shooting and we couldn’t really do anything. We started running and I just thought this was the end for us,” said Ricardo Andres, the girl’s father.
Gov. Gavin Newsom met with the victim, who was still recovering at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center on Monday morning.
“She was comforting me, there was a 12-year-old shot and smiled when I walked into the room. I said, 'How are you smiling, you just were shot?' She starts describing the courage that she was running away after she was shot and kept running and here she is comforting the governor, wow,” Newsom said.
The Dominquez family said their daughter is in stable condition at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and is expected to recover from her wounds.
A total of 11 patients were treated for their gunshot wounds at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. As of Monday night, they still had five patients in recovery whose condition ranged from fair to serious. Two patients requested no information be provided.
St. Louise Medical Hospital in the South Bay saw another 10 patients with other types of injuries.
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