The 19-year-old suspect who killed three people at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday was captured on surveillance footage shopping at local stores before the attack, police said Tuesday.
The victims are 6-year-old Stephen Romero and 13-year-old Keyla Salazar of San Jose, and 25-year-old Trevor Irby of New York, who was living in Santa Cruz. The suspect, 19-year-old Santino William Legan of Gilroy, was shot and killed by officers within a minute of the police response.
In the 48 hours since the attack, police have strung together a timeline of Legan’s whereabouts leading up to the Garlic Festival. Video footage shows him shopping alone at big-box stores, but officers are still following leads and witness tips regarding a second suspect, police Chief Scot Smithee said.
Police did not release any information about what Legan was purchasing and said the attack appears to be random and pre-planned.
The three officers who shot Legan have been placed on administrative leave, according to Smithee, who said he didn’t want the veteran officers to return to work immediately after the traumatic, emotional event. Smithee said he was initially concerned that the officers may have struck civilians with their gunfire, but an investigation has not found this to be true. The officers’ names will be released at a later time.
“It’s one thing to be involved in the shooting, but they were also in the middle of the carnage of the people who were shot,” Smithee said. “I would really prefer to look after the best interest of the officers and make sure they get the help they need.”
Police served a search warrant to search Legan’s home and vehicle in Gilroy Monday, and said Tuesday that they recovered a shotgun purchased in Nevada, in addition to the AK-47-style rifle from the scene of the shooting, and ammunition in the creek near Christmas Hill Park.
A motive in the attack has not yet been established, and officers are trying to determine if Legan subscribed to any ideology or participated in any terrorist groups.
Craig Fair, FBI deputy special agent, said about 40 officers are currently sweeping through a crime scene of several acres to find evidence and it could take them about five days longer to complete their crime scene investigation. “It’s very, very important to us that we work as quickly as possible, but at the same time … be exceptionally detail-oriented in the collection of the evidence so that it could withstand the scrutiny of, for example, a trial later on if that need be,” Fair said.
Agents have been sorting and organizing hundreds of personal items left behind during the shooting, and may begin the process of returning the items as early as Wednesday. Anyone who left items behind can visit the Family Assistance Center at Rucker Elementary School, 325 Santa Clara Ave., open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Friday.
Witnesses with information, photo or video of the shooting are asked to contact Gilroy police at (408) 846-0583, or submit files to the FBI at http://www.fbi.gov/gilroy.
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