Gilroy police have identified an additional person who suffered a gunshot wound — but narrowly escaped a more serious injury — during a deadly shooting at a famous garlic festival last month, authorities said.
Officials said a 58-year-old man sustained a graze wound to his head that required stitches. The man’s injuries bring the total number of people shot during the July 28 shooting to 17. An additional three people — including two children — were shot and killed when Santino William Legan opened fire. Legan killed himself at the festival.
Gilroy Police Capt. Joseph Deras said the shooter was standing to the side of the 58-year-old man and “had he coughed or sneezed or just moved at all” sideways or backward, “that round would have just struck him square in the head.”
Officials said Legan used a Romanian-made WASR-10 rifle, an AK-47-style firearm, that he had purchased in Nevada. Prentice Danner, an FBI spokesman in San Francisco, said Thursday the rifle previously came from Century Arms, a firearms manufacturer and importer based in Vermont and Florida.
Deras said police were aware of the 58-year-old man and had been trying to reach him when he contacted police earlier this week. The captain said authorities are still processing evidence and going through video footage — including from police body cameras — and witness statements.
Officials say they believe all of the gunshot wound victims have now been identified. Another woman police have not been able to find may have been injured, but Deras said authorities do not believe she was shot.
The FBI has opened a domestic terrorism case and is continuing to investigate. Although authorities found a “target list” containing religious institutions, courthouses and other sites, they say they have not determined Legan’s motive.
