3 killed, 12 injured in shooting at festival, official says
Gilroy (US): Three people were killed and 12 others injured Sunday after a shooting at an annual food festival in Northern California, according to a city official.
Gilroy Councilman Dion Bracco told The Associated Press those are the preliminary figures.
Witnesses reported confusion and panic as shots rang out at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in the city of 50,000 located about 80 miles (176 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.
The shooting occurred during the three-day celebration featuring food, cooking competitions and music that attracts more than 100,000 people.
Sunday was the final day of this year's event Stanford Medical Center has two patients being treated from the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, spokeswoman Julie Greicius said.
She had no details on their injuries or conditions. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center received five victims, spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said.
She also had no information on their conditions. Evenny Reyes of Gilroy, 13, told the newspaper that spent the day at the 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 said 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 everyone 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.
Natalie Martinez, a Gilroy Resident, told the Mercury News that she had gone to get food and separated from her two daughters. "I ran to find the girls . and we basically ran into each other. I thought, We're open prey. It was awful."
Video first posted on social media sites about 5:30 pm showed people running for safety at the festival, Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are responding to the scene of the shooting.
The Gilroy Police Department on its Twitter account issued a statement saying: "The hearts of Gilroy PD and entire community go out to the victims of today's shooting at the Garlic Festival. The scene is still active. If you are looking for a loved one, please go to the reunification center at Gavilan College at parking lot B."
President Donald Trump tweeted about the shooting Sunday night. "Law Enforcement is at the scene of shootings in Gilroy, California. Reports are that shooter has not yet been apprehended. Be careful and safe!" he wrote.(AP)
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
