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CNN Live Event/Special
At Least One Dead, Multiple Injuries In Shooting At North California Festival. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 29, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, everyone. I'm Natalie Allen at CNN Center in Atlanta following breaking news right now. This is our second hour. Gunfire and mass shooting with casualties at a crowded family food festival in Northern California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on? What's going on? Are there fireworks?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here. Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the (BLEEP) going on?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: That is the moment when people realized someone was shooting and they started to run, very confused, just trying to get away. This is Gilroy, California, a city of about 50,000. It's about 30 miles south of San Jose, California. And we can now confirm that at least one person is dead and several others are wounded.
As we've been saying, this is a large and popular food festival that has been going on for decades. It supports the local community and it's called the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Shots ringing out there at this festival, people running for their lives. Law enforcements are now telling CNN that they have recovered a firearm and rifle ammunition from the scene. This man was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL: It sounded like automatic gunfire and it sounded like approximately 30 rounds. And then there was a point of silence and then there was another reload. It seemed like a reload. And we heard 30 more rounds.
REPORTER: And how close were you to this gunfire?
BILL: We were probably within a few hundred feet.
REPORTER: And from what I understand in speaking to a number of vendors and festival-goers, this gunfire came in and around the stage area. Is that your understanding?
BILL: That's my understanding, near the stage and near the kids' area.
REPORTER: A number of people have also described just complete chaos and confusion in the moments after this gunfire erupted. What was your experience?
BILL: I think once we heard the gunfire, I realized what it was. I think some other folks knew what it was. And we started hearing people say, evacuate, evacuate, evacuate. The Garlic Festival volunteers were guiding people out to the exit and getting people to evacuate and take cover.
REPORTER: And, Bill, I want to stop for a moment and show you, there are a number of police cars, trucks, it appears, from the Santa Clara's Sheriff's Office all headed in one direction with their lights flashing. And so, again, that does let us know that there is some heavy police activity in that direction. So we will keep you posted on what we are hearing and seeing on the ground here outside the command post at --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: All right. Let's bring in our Crime and Justice Reporter Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, we just heard that apparently police have recovered a firearm and rifle ammunition from the scene. What could that indicate?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, first, it could indicate obviously that the suspect, the shooter here, may have left that behind. You know, we've gotten reports that the shooter was still at large and that police were still searching for him, which is why they're still calling it an active shooter situation, an active scene. We know the police are all over this place looking for evidence and also potentially looking for this shooter.
So we don't have word yet, and I think that's important, that the shooter is in custody or that they have him in any way. So that's the big question here.
Obviously, there has been other reports indicating that there may have been more than one shooter. But sometimes you hear that a lot in these kinds of situations during the chaos.
I think some of what we've heard from witnesses is very important here. This shooting seems to have happened next to a stage where a band was performing, there was music, it came towards the end of this festival. The festival, according to the website, was ending at around 6:00 Pacific Time. The band was still playing and then the shots started ringing out. So I think that's going to be a key factor for investigators.
The other thing that is still not certain is was the shooter targeting someone or was this completely random and that this shooter was just trying to create chaos, trying to just kill as many people as possible. The fact that they've recovered this rifle, we don't know what kind of style of rifle it is, but we have heard witnesses describe automatic gunfire, rapid gunfire. You heard that one witness saying about 30 gunshots, that the shooter may have loaded, reloaded, a key fact here. So all of that still very much in the air. We have yet to officially hear from police as to exactly what happened here.
We know the President Tweeted. He said that the shooter was still wanted, was still on the run, saying that it was still a very dangerous situation.
So still a lot of unanswered questions.
[00:05:01]
We know that one person -- at least one person has been killed and there have been several injured. We don't know the condition of those injured. Two of them, we know, were transported to a local hospital and we have yet to hear anything on their condition.
But still, by all accounts, a very, very active situation on the ground there for police.
ALLEN: Yes, absolutely. Because Gilroy police did put out a Tweet at least a half hour ago that they're working the story and there would be an update as soon as they could give it, but apparently they're extremely busy. They haven't done that.
You were talking about the shooter. I did speak with one of the band members who was right there on the stage when the shooter came next to the stage and started firing. And to him, he couldn't really decipher any kind of demeanor from this person, but seemed to be shooting indiscriminately with perhaps no distinctive expression or focus from the shooter.
Well, now we see that it's just after 9:00 p.m. there, Shimon, in Gilroy. So what are they up against now that darkness has fallen?
PROKUPECZ: Well, if they're searching for this shooter, that's going to be the most important thing for law enforcement right now, is to try and apprehend the shooter. That, by far, is the biggest priority.
You would think that by this point, they have a handle on the injured, that they've been able to go through the scene, try to find anyone that's been injured and get them the aid that they need. That was something -- in a lot of situations in these shootings, there's always a delay in getting to victims because when you're bringing in EMS workers, EMS technicians, they don't necessarily have tactical gear to go into active shooter situations. So the police need to secure the area first and then medical aid could go in and try and render aid.
So that was definitely something that we saw here. It did delay some of the medics from getting in. But we're not hearing a whole lot in terms of the injured. We know that at least one person has been killed, and obviously there have been several injured. We don't know the extent of those injuries. It could be just people running from the scene. It does sound like there was a -- ALLEN: Yes, Shimon, we have heard that 11 are confirmed injured. We do know that much.
PROKUPECZ: Okay, yes. So we don't know the extent of their injuries. And, you know, in these situations, people start running from the scene, they fall, people trample each other. You always get that in these types of situations. But the big thing now is where the shooter. Is he dead? Is he still on the run? Do police have him?
And the other thing obviously is going to be the question of motive. What happened here? Was this shooter targeting someone and then those individuals were caught in the crossfire or was this just completely random? Someone who went into this area knowing there was going to be thousands of people here and open fire. That's still the big question. And we yet -- we don't yet know the answer to that.
ALLEN: Right. And to hear the band tell me that there were thousands of people around them, so that shows many easy targets for this gunman.
I've also been given this information. So one person dead, multiple injured, they've been shot, in the hospital, with gunshot wounds. And the people that we know about are in serious to fair condition, at least it's not critical at this juncture.
All right, Shimon, stand by. We are getting new sound from a new eyewitness from our affiliate on the ground, KGO T.V.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REPORTER: When did you realize that your cousin, your 12-year-old cousin was shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: well, when we were almost like in a fence, we were really close to a fence, we just saw a hole and people lied down and she was crying. So we just found out that she got shot.
REPORTER: So it sounds like she got shot while you were running away from the gunfire and the gunman?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, probably. We aren't sure.
REPORTER: So were you outside the fairgrounds when she was shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Outside the fairgrounds, like the --
REPORTER: Because you said you were in the woods afterwards, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She got shot before, way before, probably. She was already like bleeding.
REPORTER: Was she crying? Was she saying that she was in pain?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, a lot of times, like she was hurting like a lot.
REPORTER: How did you get her out of there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, she was running like fast. That's why we didn't know when she got shot because she was like running normally.
REPORTER: Maybe it just was a shock to her and she realized something was wrong all of a sudden?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, probably just adrenaline because she wanted to get out of that situation.
REPORTER: I know that you said you were in the woods at some point. This was behind the garlic festival, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
REPORTER: How did you eventually get help? How did she end up here at the hospital? Was there an ambulance that took her? Was there help waiting for all of the victims?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we went to hide in the woods and then we just waited a little bit. But we knew our family was going to come at some point. We were just waiting. And she got out to find help from our family.
REPORTER: And then a family member drove her to an ambulance, is that correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
REPORTER: Okay. Was she saying anything to you guys?
[00:10:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she was crying and she was saying she was in a lot of pain, but not really anything else, and to call her mom.
REPORTER: And I know that her mom, her parents are at the hospital right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
REPORTER: Right? Okay. As are your parents, whom I've spoken to, this is not what you expected when you came to visit your family, I think needless to say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was crazy. I wasn't expecting that.
REPORTER: You're very calm right now. I imagine it was absolutely terrifying though.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I was calm, but, yes, it was really like -- it was freaky. It was just -- I was in shock.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: I think most of the people we've been talking with are in shock.
We want to bring in another eyewitness on the phone for us now is Lex de la Herran. Lex, thanks so much for talking with us.
You were on the ground and you were wounded. Take us through what happened.
LEX DE LA HERRAN, EYEWITNESS: So I originally was walking away as the music was winding down and I turned around for a quick moment and I hear the gunshot sounds. At first, I thought it was fireworks. But a man behind me screamed that those are real, those are real. And I just froze like a deer in the headlights.
And all of a sudden, blindsidedly, this piece of unknown shrapnel flying towards me and struck me in the forehead. Luckily it wasn't anything serious, just left a bruise behind. But right after that, I just started running. And I was looking behind to make sure that, you know, my family was with me. And I saw people jumping over the fence, people trampling over each other. It was just widespread chaos. And it was just unbelievable having to, you know, experience a traumatic experience like this.
ALLEN: I can understand. As you ran, did the gunman continue to shoot?
DE LA HERRAN: Yes. At first, there was an initial six firing and there was a brief pause. And after that pause, the gunman resumed firing. But after that, I didn't hear any more gunshots at that time.
ALLEN: how far were you able to run to get away?
DE LA HERRAN: I ran as quick as I could. I ran about maybe 30 feet away from where the firing was happening. And I was running with the crowd toward where the busses were. And, luckily, a bus was there and I was able to get on there quickly. Because, you know, in those situations, you don't know whether or not you're being chased or, you know, what the gunman is doing. You know, there are so many things that were just running through my mind, but, you know, I tried to stay as calm as I could.
ALLEN: You sound like you were, Lex. But what about the people around you? Were people screaming?
DE LA HERRAN: Yes, people were screaming. I saw multiple people jumping over a fence. Someone tripped over a fence. I saw a couple of people trip too. But people were definitely in shock. There was a large silence and, you know, some people were visibly shaking. And, you know, it was just a time of just complete shock and trying to process everything that just happened.
ALLEN: Right. You know, you see these things on television. Unfortunately, you know, our country is in midst of a terrible ordeal with mass shootings. But many of us that see it or see the news stories can't comprehend what it's like to go through something like this. How will you tell it to your family? DE LA HERRAN: I would say it's like a moment of -- the best thing to do was not to panic. And I did the best that I could in that situation. But I had to deal with what I knew, and that was when a situation like that happens, you have to get away from the crowd and away from the source of the turmoil. And I think using a calm and collected mind as best as possible through the adrenaline rush, I think it's important that we all are aware at all times.
You know, it's an extra precaution that we have to take, but, you know, we live in a reality where we have to be wary of those around us and always be prepared for anything, especially on festivals. And it's a shame we have to, but we have to do what we can to protect ourselves and our family and our friends so we can ensure that if something like this were to happen again, we are all prepared as best we can and we can possibly reduce the amount of casualties.
But, you know, it's all that we can do.
ALLEN: Right.
DE LA HERRAN: There's -- it's a sense of hopelessness.
[00:15:00]
But trying to find the hope within that, it's quite difficult because, you know, like you said, we see these incidents happening all the time. And I never thought that I would be involved in such an incident, and, you know, it hit me pretty hard that, you know, it can be any one of us.
And if I was two minutes away from -- if I stood where I was near the stage for two more minutes, I would have been an easy target because, you know, at that time, things were winding down. There were not that many people left. You know, the festival was starting to come to an end, but, you know, that's what happened, you know? Someone took advantage of that and, you know, it's really sad.
ALLEN: Right. Well, Lex, thank you so much for talking with us because I'm sure this is a very, very emotional time for you, so many feelings that you're having. We're so glad that you're okay. And thank you so much, Lex De La Herran on the phone with us.
DE LA HERRAN: Thank you.
ALLEN: All the best to you, Lex.
Well, let's bring back in our experts that we've been talking with. CNN National Security Analyst, Juliette Kayyem, former Secret Sevice Agent Jonathan Wackrow and former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.
Back to you, Juliette. You've been listening as we've been hearing more about this shooter, the proximity to these thousands of people and that there has been a rifle recovered, but the shooter, it seems to be, remains at large. JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's what we're hearing from eyewitnesses. And actually there is a bit of a gap between eyewitness accounts and what you're seeing on Twitter. I'm only saying that because this is why. While we want to give the police department patience, generally, there would be some information or formal information out by now. The number who have been at the hospital, if they can confirm the number dead, whether this is an active shooter still or there has been an apprehension. One has to assume it's still active shooter. Whether -- what security was at the facility, what kind of gun, the make and model of the gun.
You know, we don't need this information just because we're on the media, we're analysts. Actually, the information then begins to set a stage and sort of undermine the rumors that you see in this day and age. So I hope that we'll hear from police department relatively soon because even this question of is there a second shooter, just from what I can tell, none of the people you've interviewed have mentioned a second shooter. That seems to be coming from online, sort of Twitter and stuff. So people will be cautious as we're reporting it because eyewitness accounts, while not perfect, are certainly better than sort of anonymous narrating from Twitter.
ALLEN: Right. Let's go to former Philadelphia Police Commissioner now, Charles Ramsey. Charles, what are you gleaning from what you've been hearing and what are police up against now that nightfall has occurred there in California?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, certainly nightfall is not helpful. I mean, but they right now are in a process probably of still trying to search the area. They've established a perimeter. It looks like they have a lot of resources there at their disposal so they should be able to lock that area down.
They're interviewing witnesses, processing a scene. If what we heard is accurate that a firearm has been recovered, shell casings and the like, obviously, that's all part of evidence.
So that's what they're going through now, trying to get as much information as possible under the circumstances, and at least lock it down until daylight. But they do have at their disposal, I'm sure, a helicopter with thermal imaging, night vision, they've got K-9s. They'll use whatever they have to use to try to locate the person or persons responsible for this if they're still on the scene.
ALLEN: Right. All right, and let's go to Jonathan Wackrow as well, a former Secret Service Agent. What about the element of time, Jonathan, the more time it takes to find this person?
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, listen, obviously it seems like the person has fled, so he has a -- he or she has a jump already on the law enforcement. But the fact that they ditched their weapons means that they may be trying to become more mobile or blend into the crowd that's there. That may make it more complicated for law enforcement.
Secondary theory could be that they may have run out of ammunition with their primary weapon system and they could be running to a secondary location where they can rearm themselves.
So when we say that this is an active situation, this is also a dangerous situation for the public. So, you know, it's -- the public has just reminded that law enforcement is converging on this area, they're setting up the perimeter to try to find, you know, who this individual is and put this threat down. So this isn't the time for people to come to the scene and look. There is family unification process that is in place. They should make outreach that way, but not come to an active police/law enforcement scene at this time.
[00:20:05]
ALLEN: All right. Jonathan, we thank you, and Juliette and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.
We want to let our viewers know that we are just about ten minutes away from hearing from the Gilroy police, their first news conference since this shooting broke out. We'll bring you live coverage of that.
Quick break, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: It's our breaking news right now on CNN, a mass shooting at a crowded food festival in Northern California. Our latest confirmed information, at least one person is dead, 11 others are wounded. We are awaiting the Gilroy Police Department to hold a news conference in a few moments.
But a short time ago, we heard some details about the people who were hurt and were taken to hospitals nearby. This is the spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOY ALEXIOU, SANTA CLARA VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER: It's unfortunate we have to be here tonight at this tragic incident. But I'll just let you know what the update is. This is preliminary information. Saint Louise Regional Hospital received a total of six gunshot wound victims from the Gilroy shooting today. Two of those patients were transferred to Santa Clara Medical Center. Three patients remain at Saint Louise in serious or fair condition and one patient is deceased.
Saint Louise got another seven patients with injuries that don't require hospitalization, so from running away, maybe spraining an ankle, getting cuts and bruises in the panic of the situation.
[00:25:03]
And they may get more.
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center took the two transfers from Saint Louise and then we received another five gunshot victims. These patients came by ambulance or helicopter and are being treated for their wounds. Their conditions range from critical to fair at this time. REPORTER: We know that a 12-year-old girl is being treated here. Her family says that she was shot in the leg. We certainly hope that she's okay as well as all of the other victims. Can you talk about the age range here of the victims at both of the hospitals?
ALEXIOU: I don't have all the ages at this time, so I can't provide that information.
REPORTER: Do you have a youngest or an oldest?
ALEXIOU: No, I do not.
REPORTER: I'm sure you've been in this business a long time. I'm sure your hospital is trained for this type of incident, but it's always shocking when this happens.
ALEXIOU: I think it's been very -- you know, they're professionals, right? They're here. They're getting the job done, both at Saint Louise and at Valley Medical Center. And we do train and drill and exercise, and so our staff is really well prepared. And the great thing about our people is a number of people who weren't working today called in and said, do you need me to come in? Do you need me to come in help? And so that's been fabulous by our staff.
REPORTER: Do you know the type of injuries?
ALEXIOU: They're gunshot wounds and that's all I can say at this point.
REPORTER: Can you recap exactly the total number of victims that you guys have received?
ALEXIOU: So Saint Louise got six and then Santa Clara Valley Medical Center got another total of five. But we took two of the patients from Saint Louise.
REPORTER: So it sounds like a total of nine?
ALEXIOU: So in total of 11, 6 and 5, 11, in the both hospitals.
REPORTER: But two were transferred.
ALEXIOU: Two of the first six were transferred to Valley Medical Center.
REPORTER: I know you've explained their conditions. Are these victims in surgery right now?
ALEXIOU: I don't have that information right now.
REPORTER: And do you know if one of the victims was the shooter?
ALEXIOU: I do not believe so.
REPORTER: There's another reporter who just asked if one of the victims taken to the two Santa Clara Valley Health Systems was the shooter, and Joy does not believe so.
ALEXIOU: Yes, I do not believe that we received the shooter.
REPORTER: Okay. Do you have any information for people who might be trying to come to your hospitals, because, like you said, they may have these non-gunshot related injuries?
ALEXIOU: I did not. I don't have the information, but there is through the City of Gilroy command center, there is a family reunification number for people to call.
REPORTER: But if people have an injury that's perhaps minor, do you need people to stay away from your emergency rooms? Are you guys packed right now? Any advice to people who may be -- can go to --
ALEXIOU: If people are injured, they can come in. You know, if they can wait until tomorrow to see their doctor if it's not a serious injury, they should do that. But if they have an injury they're concerned about, they should come in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: The hospital spokeswoman reiterating that 11 people have been shot. They're in the hospital. Their conditions range from fair to critical and there is one person who has been killed from this shooting. Again, we're just a few minutes away from hearing from the police department here at the festival.
Let's go to our Paul Vercammen. He is gathering information there in our Los Angeles Bureau. You know, Paul, when I first heard that this happened at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, that was hard to comprehend. This is a family festival. It is very popular. It supports the community. What more can you tell us about it?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right. It supports the community in so many ways. They say the average attendance per weekend is usually more than 100,000, Natalie. This particular festival has raised $11.7 or so million for local schools and non- profits. As you articulate, it's very popular.
People will come down from San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, from Monterey Bay, throughout California. And garlic is huge agri business in Gilroy. So it brings the whole town together, well known for the Gilroy Garlic Fries.
We should also note so no one is alarmed by what happened here in case their relative was at another stage here. They had three stages set up at this festival. As we've heard from witnesses, this tribute band, Tinman, that plays classic rock was winding things down. But other artists such as Caylee Hammack from Nashville and Colby Calet, she played yesterday.
What we understand is they were on different stages, three stages in all. And there was sort of a problem in the area of the stage where more of the local bands were playing. So we don't want to give everybody the sense that all of these stages were threatened during this incident. And we're hearing the same thing you're hearing, Natalie. Confirmation is one killed and 11 injured at this festival.
ALLEN And the search is on for the shooter.
Again, we're going to take a short break standing by to hear from the Gilroy Police Department to bring us more information.
[00:30:04]
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: Staying on top of our breaking news, a mass shooting in Gilroy, California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on? What's going on? Are there fireworks?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here. Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the (BLEEP) going on?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: And we can now confirm at that least one person is dead. 11 others have been shot. They're in the hospital, their conditions ranging from fair to critical.
This happened at a large and very popular food festival called the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
You can hear the shots ringing out there at this festival, frightened people running for their lives, trying to figure out what was going on. Law enforcement now telling CNN that they have recovered a firearm and rifle ammunition from the scene. The shooter, as we understand, it still on the run.
Let's hear from another eyewitness.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know where to go and there was people there. Two ladies and my cousin had come and ran and we all hid under the table.
[00:35:01]
And you could just hear right behind my booth, you could just hear the loud pops. So they were right behind it.
And it was just a nightmare. It was the most scariest thing we'd ever been through. I just comfort them because they were all shaking. We were all shaking.
REPORTER: Where was your -- your stand set up here, in terms of the festival? And when you heard this, you said it was continuous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REOPRTER: Like a machine gun?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it was continuous, like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and it's fast. I mean, it was just fast. It wasn't like a handgun sound, you know, like a pop, pop. It was continuous, very fast.
REPORTER: And you said you saw people that were hitting the ground?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw people running and they were just falling down. And I don't know if -- you know, because at that moment you're just wondering what's going on. You're just in shock. I don't know if they were hit. All I knew is they were down.
REPORTER: So what did you do at that very moment?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At that time, I just -- I ran. I don't know. Moment -- I'm still shook up.
REPORTER: Sure, sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I just ran behind my booth. I saw two people. They ran and jumped behind the table.
And so there was a total of three of us. We got as close under my -- under my table in the far back of my booth as we possibly could get. My cousin got in there and there was a total of four of us. And I -- we just prayed, and the noise was very loud behind my booth. I honestly thought we were going to get shot.
REPORTER: So you were thinking at that point, this might be it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I honestly thought it was. It was so bad. It was -- the sounds were so close.
And then I come to find out that the booth -- I just reunited with one of the booth members in the booth next to me, and they actually saw the shooters. There's -- my booth was the end and then there was a bit of a gap at the end of the aisle. Then there's a bit of a gap. There's like this patio or something like somebody had made up, you know, as a vendor showing it. So there was some space between mine, but you could easily walk around there.
So they said that they actually saw the -- one of the shooters swaying and shooting from there. So that's why I know -- I think that's why I heard it so loud because they were right there at my -- right next to my booth.
REPORTER: And you're saying one of the shooters?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I heard there was a total of three shooters. At that point when -- maybe it was about -- maybe about a minute, minute-and-a-half, I heard the sirens. I felt a little relief but then there was -- I don't know if there was still noise. There might have still been popping. And then it got quiet.
And that's then maybe about, I don't know, a minute or two later they -- someone was coming down screaming, run as fast as you can. Run. So we all just got up and started running. And we didn't know where we were running, but we just ran straight to the right and I don't know where we ended up, but it was -- it was intense.
REPORTER: So you actually grabbed some people, you went into your booth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REPORTER: You hid underneath the table.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REPORTER: You start hearing these increasingly loud popping sounds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right there, right behind my booth or to the side of it, I couldn't tell. All I knew was I felt we were going to -- it was so close. I was just praying to God we wouldn't get shot in the back or the head. I mean, my back or wherever (ph).
And I just comfort them and just told them that, you know, we're -- God is with us. We're going to be okay. We're going to make it okay and just pray at that moment because you don't know. You don't know if you're going to make it out alive or what's going to happen. And then you feel trapped because you can't really get up and run because the shots are still firing. So it's a very, very uncomfortable situation, it's traumatic.
REPORTER: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REPORTER: I mean --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REPORTER: And we want to thank you for sharing this information with us. But I do want to get into how much time there was that you were underneath the table and then eventually were able to get out from underneath and run with everyone else.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably maybe like three to five minutes, it seemed like. It seemed like, yes, because the shots were kept going. It was like, you know, continuous and then it seemed like it stopped and then it would start and then that was it. And then it just stopped and then we weren't sure -- we were still staying there.
But you kind of want to -- you want to get up and you want to run, yet you're afraid because you don't know, you know, are they still going to shoot at you? Thank God I didn't because, apparently, they were right next to my booth on the side.
REPORTER: Did you -- did you see anybody? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, thank God, I did not. No, I did not.
REPORTER: When you decided to eventually get up and run with everybody, because you were pretty much told by someone, hey, you know, we've got to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got to go quickly.
REPORTER: Did you -- of the people that you said that you saw were dropping, did you see anybody on the ground? Did you see any victims?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I didn't. I did not look. I didn't look. I just wanted to -- I just ran. In fact, I was separated from my cousin and my friend that was working in the booth with me.
[00:40:03]
We all separated so we couldn't find each other. I just found them now at the high school.
REPORTER: Okay. So this center has really come to great use of you in such a troubling time. So you were able to get back with everybody. And what was that moment like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relief, knowing that, you know, my cousin wasn't hurt or injured. It's so very traumatic.
REPORTER: So what's going through your head at the time when you're underneath that table? You're in -- you know, you don't know what to process, right? Because you're trying to understand exactly what's happening. But, you know, of the people that you were separated with, they weren't underneath the table with you, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of my cousins. My cousin was --
REPORTER: I'm sorry. Okay. We will, I guess, have to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, we have press conference location for you, if you go to the sanitary (ph).
REPORTER: We're live on the air right now. I apologize.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need clear the area.
REPORTER: Okay, will do. Okay.
Well, we have to clear the area, unfortunately, guys. You know, we want to thank Venzina (ph) for joining us. Thank you for being able to join --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Well, that was a police officer there interrupting to talk about the news conference that we are on standby for. We will bring that to you as soon as it begins from the Gilroy Police Department. Let's go back to our panel now. With me is CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem, former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow and former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.
I'd like to speak with you, Jonathan, first about what we just heard from this woman. What did you glean from what she was saying? First of all, she's the one witness that I've heard since our coverage began that described as many as three shooters. What -- it would be probably impossible to know right now with everyone running and just hearing the pops and not -- and not looking.
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. I mean, I think what you have to take a look at is, you know, these are very dynamic. They're obviously unpredictable situations. And, you know, in the moments of a crisis, people have a physiological and psychological strain that's put on them.
So this is the challenge for law enforcement. We've heard that, you know, people confirming, no, there was one shooter. Now, someone saying that there are three. The shots came from over here. The crowd was running over there.
The problem is that there's a lot of chaos in the moments of these incidents, so that's the challenge for law enforcement is, how do they take all of this information in, digest it to actually come out with some actionable intelligence that they can then use to go forward and address this threat.
ALLEN: All right. Stand by. We'll get back to all of you in just a moment. But CNN's Correspondent Dan Simon is there on the scene for us. And, Dan, you can set the scene for us. Where are you? What are you seeing? And what are you hearing?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are at Gavilan College, Natalie. And I can tell you that a press conference is going to take place shortly with authorities that are going to brief us on what has taken place.
But I want to introduce you to a couple of witnesses who were selling some honey, is that correct?
CHERYL LOWE, EYEWITNESS: Yes. Yes.
SIMON: Tell us what you saw and how close you were to the shooter.
CANDICE MARQUEZ, EYEWITNESS: I think we were like ten feet when we first saw him because he was -- we walked out of the porta potties, which was probably about 25 feet away from our tent and we heard a shot as we were getting out. And we said, what, is that a firecracker?
And we turned around and this guy had his rifle and he was putting something in it. We've seen his side. He was white and he had shorts on. He had a green vest and a brown hat. As soon as he put that in, he just turned around and started walking fast towards our thing shooting. And we ran the other way. LOWE: And our bus and her husband got shot. And my granddaughter and his son -- her son were in the tent at the time. They didn't get shot. My granddaughter grabbed him and hid him underneath a box. She said she looked at him straight in the eye and saw him, saw him coming towards her. And she hid.
They shot my boss once in the leg and he shot her husband three times. They're in critical condition. They're both in surgery right now at Valley Medical. I have no news on them. I don't know what's going on.
MARQUEZ: Yes. So, when she realized that there granddaughter was still there, so she went and saw more and everyone kept telling me to keep running. But --
LOWE: I had to get to the tent because I had to make sure she was safe. And then the neighbors next to us grabbed him and took him and hid him over there where they were safe. Then the next thing, they were laying on the ground. I didn't know if they had gotten shot. And I went over there and she said to me, she goes, I don't think Paco (ph) is going to make it. I don't think he is going to make it.
And he goes -- and I said -- and she's said, where's the baby? I said, I have him. He's going to be safe. He's okay. I got him. And she said, okay. And then they took one away in a pickup truck and another one away in moving van. The ambulance never got over there. They just took them away. So they took them out and then the ambulances just took them away.
MARQUEZ: And then a few minutes later, they told us, you got to run, there's somebody in the bushes or in the field. So you've got to run. Get out of here. Just keep going, the cop said. So --
LOWE: And I saw the police had killed the shooter. He was laying by the slide.
MARQUEZ: Yes, the shooter that we saw was laying by the slide dead.
SIMON: You say the shooter was apprehended by police or he was shot by police?
LOWE: Shot by police in the head.
[00:45:00]
He was the one we saw was shot by police in the head.
SIMON: How long would you say it took for police to arrive at the scene?
MARQUEZ: They were there pretty fast. We went to the bathroom about 5:20, you know, so -- because it was almost over. And he started shooting about 5:25 or something and then about -- well, I don't know time-wise because it just seemed like it went so fast.
LOWE: I would say no longer than ten minutes police were over there and he was dead. I would say ten minutes at the most. But I couldn't because everything just went so fast.
MARQUEZ: It's still not processed in our heads, you know?
LOWE: I mean, it's horrible. I mean, I just -- you can't go anywhere safe. I mean, this is supposed to be a safe place for everybody to be.
MARQUEZ: But the shooter never said anything.
LOWE: He didn't look at anybody.
MARQUEZ: We were lucky we didn't scream because we were that close, he would have shot us.
LOWE: He would have turned around and shot us. That's how close he was to us.
SIMON: All right. Let's talk about what the shooter looked like. You said he was wearing shorts, had a hat and a vest on.
MARQUEZ: A green vest, like a flak jacket, you know, like the military or whatever. So, yes --
LOWE: Tactical vest.
SIMON: Could you see any facial expressions?
MARQUEZ: No, we've only seen the side view. We did make no noise once we saw him just shooting --
SIMON: What about his build, his age?
LOWE: He's an average-sized guy. He was probably built like you but not as tall as you. He's just an average-sized guy, just a regular, normal --
MARQUEZ: White guy, yes.
LOWE: Yes, white guy. He was white. He was probably maybe 5'10", 5'11".
SIMON: Approximate age?
LOWE: At 25 to 35, if anything. He wasn't -- he didn't look that old from the side. I mean, he didn't look that old. Brenda said he didn't look at him. She said he thought he had a darker mustache and a beard. But I don't know. That's my granddaughter.
SIMON: And what witnesses have said and I heard you say, you heard one shot and then there was like a pause for ten or so seconds and then you heard another volley of gunfire.
MARQUEZ: Well, that's right. And we saw him put that in. And we saw him shooting and running towards our tent, our vendor's tent.
LOWE: We heard the pop. That's when we walked out of the bathroom, we heard the pop. I did think nothing of it. We both looked at the same time and saw him. He was putting the thing in. And then also he just started walking towards our tent and just start shooting like this.
MARQUEZ: And we ran the other way and everybody else was running. And she remembered her granddaughter and the people kept telling me to run, get down. And so then she went back to the tent and I was on the other side.
LOWE: It was chaos, you know? It was pandemonium. It was just chaos. But it was like everything happened so fast and then it was over with.
MARQUEZ: And somebody said when I was in the back, where the vendors parked that somebody brought a little baby boy that was --
LOWE: There was a lady running with a child that was bleeding and he wasn't alive.
MARQUEZ: He was dead.
LOWE: The shooter shot him. And I don't know that. But what they're showing on T.V. was on the other side of the park people running. So I don't know if there was somebody else -- I don't know.
MARQUEZ: Somebody said fatigues too. But, definitely, what we saw was --
ALLEN: Okay then. Our Paul Simon interviewing two witnesses. And one of the witnesses, the lady there in the blue shirt, as you heard, according to what she saw is that the shooter was shot.
Now, we don't have any confirmation of that. We've got no information from police on that. So let's go back now to this interview.
MARQUEZ: -- in the field --
LOWE: In the field.
MARQUEZ: So then they said, get out of here, just keep running, had everybody just go out of the Garlic Festival and leave.
LOWE: Yes, just go out in the middle of the field. So I don't know. I didn't see anybody after that.
SIMON: We had a momentary pause here with the camera. We had to change batteries. But let me pick up the story from when you heard the gunfire. Tell me exactly what was first thing you did?
LOWE: I ran. But when I heard the first pop, like I said, we thought it was the fireworks. And then I saw him.
MARQUEZ: We said to each other, oh, my God, and we just ran around the porta potties in the back.
LOWE: So we went the -- where he was going around the back side of the porta potties. As soon as I got around the back side of the porta potties, I said, oh, my God, where is Miranda and the baby? That's where my panic mode was.
And I was trying to hide behind -- there was a big van there. So I was trying to go around the van so I could -- if I could see where the kids were. Then I saw the baby started to come out to his mama, like, oh, my God, they saw Miranda grab him.
So I was panicked. I didn't know what to do.
LOWE: I was already on the other side of the field. I just kept running.
SIMON: We're going to hear from authorities in just a few minutes. But I wonder, what questions do you have? You're a part of this. I mean, what question --
MARQUEZ: It's just so scary. What has this world come to? You know, you can't even be safe, you know?
LOWE: Where is the gun control, I mean, assault rifles?
MARQUEZ: How did they get them in? Did they hide them the day before? You know, who are these people?
SIMON: Because I've heard several witnesses say that security was pretty good.
MARQUEZ: Yes, it was. Yes, that's what I'm saying.
LOWE: They were all from Gilroy P.D. and they were on horses, they were on motorcycles.
MARQUEZ: But where did they hide them? When did they hide them?
SIMON: There are metal detectors to get in?
LOWE: I don't know. We're vendors. We didn't have to do that.
MARQUEZ: But this was a -- I know it was a rifle, so, you know, how did he get that in?
LOWE: There's a -- there's a -- there's a walkway -- there's a chain link fence and there's a creek on that side. So he could have jumped over the fence right there and no one saw him and then come straight to us. Because that's why I'm thinking everything could have been hidden behind there, because they don't patrol that because it's fenced off. It's like not part of the festival.
MARQUEZ: So who knows what they did. But I just -- you know, it's so scary you can't just go have fun. You know, I never, ever had something this close to people. And it could have been us. If I didn't have to go to the bathroom, we would have been right in that tent, you know.
[00:50:01] LOWE: We would have been shot. know we would have. We were standing right there.
MARQUEZ: And I said, let's go to the bathroom and I went to check out sandals, so we walked and, you know, it just --
LOWE: It just happened. And so this gun thing is just killing me. I mean, how do people get in to do this? I mean --
MARQUEZ: Why are they people thinking why would they want to do something like this, why would they want to come out and hurt so many people. If they were having this bad, why not you take your own life and leave everybody --
LOWE: Why leave everybody else, you know?
SIMON: Just a few questions. Have you been at this festival before?
LOWE: Yes. I've worked at this festival. This is my fifth year working it. I work at it and we used to go all the time. I live in Gilroy. I've been in Gilroy for 35 years.
SIMON: So food festival, entertainment and music.
LOWE: Music, it's family. I mean, they have a -- thank God it wasn't where the kids are, in the kids' section. I mean, there's a lot of ifs and whats. He was at the end of the festival.
MARQUEZ: And still we haven't processed it. It's kind of unreal. But it's so close because the people we -- that got shot, we know them.
LOWE: We work with them.
MARQUEZ: And it's so scary.
LOWE: And she's like my best friend, you know, and her husband. I took care of their child. It's like, now, what do you do, you know? They got locked down at Valley Med, where they're at, that it's locked down. I can't even go see what's happening to them. Do you know what I'm saying? I have no contact with them.
MARQUEZ: She's not a relative.
LOWE: I'm not a relative. So what do you do? It's insane.
MARQUEZ: You know, like I said, I still haven't processed it. It's like -- I mean, you know, like we hugged each other and said, you know, thank God. It could have been us, you know, just two minutes.
LOWE: It's too much. It's too much to handle. It's too much to even do all this. I just kept --
MARQUEZ: And we don't know how her granddaughter is going to process it. She had, you know, stuff in her hair.
LOWE: She saw the whole thing. She saw --
SIMON: She's a year old?
LOWE: Ten. She saw the whole thing.
MARQUEZ: She saved a three-year-old. She grabbed him and hid him.
LOWE: She's ten years old.
MARQUEZ: Yes.
SIMON: Well, ladies, thank you so much for talking to CNN. I'm glad you're doing okay.
And tell me your names.
MARQUEZ: Candice Marquez (ph).
LOWE: Cheryl Lowe (ph).
SIMON: Candice, Cheryl, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.
LOWE: Thank you very much.
MARQUEZ: Have a great time. Thank you.
SIMON: Well, Natalie, you heard there and pretty vivid detail what happened there from the two witnesses. They were just selling some honey. They've been to the festival for many years, very close to the shooter. You heard the description, somebody between age 25 and 35. They said that police got here relatively quickly and actually shot the suspect dead. That's something that we have not heard yet from authorities.
We know that there's going to be a press conference here in the next few minutes at this college where people have been gathering, but what a situation. And we're going to learn more in a few minutes from the authorities in terms of how all this unfolded.
Talking to Cheryl and Candice, they really described in great detail in terms of what they saw and obviously could have been worse. But, obviously, they're very shaken up. Natalie?
ALLEN: Right, Dan. And we should be hearing from police soon to see whether they confirm what your witness there said that she believes that the shooter was shot by authorities. That's something new that we haven't heard before. So that will be interesting to follow.
And to your point, a man I interviewed earlier that was right there next to the shooter that was on the stage, they said there were some 100,000 people at this festival. Yet, so far, the casualty numbers are low. One person dead, 11 people in the hospital, that seems like a miraculous, doesn't it?
SIMON: It really does. And it sounds like police got to the scene very quickly and engaged with the suspect, and as you heard there, shot him dead. Again, we do need to confirm that information. But the rapid police response seems to have played a major role in all of this.
But, you know, when you talk to witnesses, one thing that's puzzling is they say that the shooter fired one round and then there was a pause, maybe for 10 or 15 seconds, and there was a second volley of gunfire. And then within minutes, police arrived and allegedly, reportedly engaged the suspect as people started fleeing the area, tens of thousands of people at this food festival, people diving under tables, getting below chairs, doing whatever they could to try to remain safe. Natalie?
ALLEN: Right. And there have been some eyewitnesses that say they felt there could have been more than one shooter. What are you mainly hearing from people that you've talked with as far as whether this was a lone gunman or perhaps more?
SIMON: Well, everybody we have talked to has given the same description of that one shooter, somebody wearing a bald cap, a bandana and some shorts. We haven't heard anybody give a second description. So that leads me to believe that there's just one shooter. But, again, that's something that authorities are going to have to tell us.
ALLEN: And what about where you are as far as the police presence?
[00:55:01]
Can you tell what the presence is? Is there a sense there's an active search for someone underway?
SIMON: It's difficult for us to tell because we're pretty removed from the situation. We're at this college which is a few blocks away from the festival. It's -- so, obviously, police are still over there. They're processing the scene.
So from my vantage point, I can't really ascertain what the presence is like on the ground at this particular moment, Natalie.
ALLEN: Yes. And as far as the popularity of this festival, 100,000 people, a family festival, can you kind of give us a sense of the community of Gilroy?
SIMON: Yes. This is a small community. And this is, you know, the main thing that happens in Gilroy over the summer. Everybody looks forward to it. It's been happening for 41 years. And it's a food festival that people in the community look forward to. And they have cooking competitions and barbecues and live music, things of that nature, Natalie.
ALLEN: All right. Dan Simon there on the scene. We have many others we've been talking with about this story. The latest again from this shooting that happened just around 6:00 P.M. there in California, one dead, 11 shot. And we are going to hear from the police in a news conference in matter of moments. Please stay with us.
