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A GUNMAN who killed three people at a food festival in California on Sunday urged his Instagram followers to read a 19th century book popular with white supremacists on extremist websites.
Santino William Legan posted the caption about the book “Might is Right,” which claims race determines behavior. It appeared with a photo of Smokey the Bear in front of a “fire danger” sign and also complained about overcrowding towns and paving open space to make room for “hordes” of Latinos and Silicon Valley whites.
In his last Instagram post Sunday, Legan sent a photo from the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Minutes later, he shot into the crowd with an AK-47 style weapon, killing a six-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his mid-20s.
Under it, he wrote: “Ayyy garlic festival time” and “Come get wasted on overpriced” items. Legan’s since-deleted Instagram account says he is Italian and Iranian.
‘Let’s get out of here’
The postings are among the first details that have emerged about Legan since authorities say he appeared to fire at random, sending people running and diving under tables.
Video footage showed people fleeing in terror as rifle rounds rang out at one of the largest food events in the country, which attracts around 100,000 each year to the city of Gilroy, 130 kilometres southeast of San Francisco.
Police patrolling the event responded within a minute and killed Legan as he turned the weapon on them.
The gunman legally purchased the semi-automatic assault rifle this month in Nevada, where his last address is listed. He would have been barred from buying it in California, which restricts firearms purchases to people over 21. In Nevada, the age limit is 18.
The Mercury News reported that the shooting took place as the festival was winding down.
Stagehand Shawn Viaggi hit the ground after hearing “loud pops,” it said.
“I called out, ‘It’s a real gun, let’s get out of here,’ and we hid under the stage,” Viaggi said, according to the newspaper.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival features live entertainment including bands and cooking competitions as well as food and drink, according to organisers.
The family event is a major focal point for the small city of around 50,000.
Thirteen-year-old Evenny Reyes told the Mercury News that “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.”
“There was a little kid hurt on the ground. People were throwing tables and cutting fences to get out,” said Reyes.
‘Tough road ahead’
Mass shootings are a frequent occurrence in the US, but despite the scale of the gun violence problem, efforts to address it legislatively have largely stalled at the federal level.
Hundreds of people came out last night for a candlight vigil in front of City Hall in honor of those killed and injured.
“We cannot let the bastard that did this tear us down,” Mayor Roland Velasco declared to cheers.
President Donald Trump paid tribute to the victims at an event at the White House.
“While families were spending time at a local festival, a wicked murderer opened fire and killed three innocent citizens, including a young child,” Trump said.
We grieve for their families and ask that god comfort them.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose district covers most of San Francisco, spoke of the survivors’ “tough road ahead” and called for action to end gun violence.
“Every day the Senate refuses to act is a stain on the conscience of our nation,” she said.
Shooter Legan grew up less than a mile from the park where the city known as the “Garlic Capital of the World”.
Authorities are looking for clues, including on social media, as to what caused the son of a prominent local family to go on a rampage. His father was a competitive runner and coach, a brother was an accomplished young boxer and his grandfather had been a supervisor in Santa Clara County.
Police said they don’t know if people were targeted, but at this point, it appears he shot indiscriminately. Twelve people were also injured during the shooting.
Police searched Legan’s vehicle and the two-story Legan family home, leaving with paper bags. Authorities also searched an apartment they believed Legan used this month in remote northern Nevada. Officials didn’t say what they found.
Why do they name the killers? After mass shootings they don’t deserve a name!!
@Zippy: all it does is encourage others. Notoriety is part of why these guys decide to kill people like this, removing a big incentive would be a good step to take.
Name the victims, but don’t name the killer.
They really have to start looking into measures against white supremacy, but with a president who relies on their vote I don’t see it happening. So many shootings are carried out by lone white supremacist men and people don’t seem to think it’s a pattern.
@Keith O’Reilly:
In fairness it could be a proportionality thing with 327 million people with 60% white, and half that male you talking roughly 100 million white males. With a number that big you will find some mad people.
As for trying to help the white supremacy issue – this guy who was on Russell Howard was very inspiring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLtp13Rw8Kc
@Keith O’Reilly: Can an Italian/Iranian be a white supremacist? I’m sure he has African/Asian DNA.
@Nathan Carr:
you’re sure? forgive me but i wouldnt believe a word you say.
I am expecting the NRA and the Alex Jones wacko brigade types to start saying this was another false flag and all these victims are alive and probably living in area 51 and that this is all just another tin foil had conspiracy to take away their precious guns…….America home of the brave, land of the so called free and where they place the rights of owning a stupid gun over the lives of the people those weapons have killed and the lives of the loved ones left behind they helped ruin
@Thomas Newell:
Its an unusual mindset with them but American exceptionalism I guess. They love the country but fear at a random moment some person will shoot at them, and the minutes it takes the police to arrive, they could be dead so they need a gun to protect themselves. Its a weird love but fear combination that seems contradictory.
@Thomas Newell: I don’t understand their obsession either. My other half has a good friend who lives in Texas. This girl is the sweetest, friendliest person you could ever meet.. honestly!! She owns 2 shotguns. One of them has a spinning barrel like handguns have that holds 6 shells and its fully automatic. She talks about them in the same manner we might talk about our laptop.. like it’s the most normal thing in the world to own a fully automatic shotgun.
@Peter Cavey: as far as I understand it it has to do with a deep distrust for government and the view that an armed population prevents authoritarian regimes and would help avoid situations that were seen throughout Europe and Asia in the 20th century.
People went mad when Ilhan Omar said white men in America were the most dangerous people yet this is proof that she had a point. I can count two mass shootings in the states that were the doing of radicalised Muslims, but I run out of fingers when counting the number of shottings done by white men. Omar needs to work on her phrasing but on that point she seemed to be talking more sense than I think some wanted to admit
@Jake Kelly: what about all the indiscriminate mass bombers in Syria the Middle East etc …….. are these people not dangerous too. The world is more than just America
@Eamonn O Connell: ignore what I posted read your post wrong ….. apologies
@Jake Kelly: Agree I think when she uses phrases like ” some people did something “which was completely taken out of context she is actually pointing out that in every race and culture and county you will have bad people that do bad things. There never seems to be a conversation about tarring all white people as white supremacists with ak47s. Yet every Muslim with a back pack is perceived to be a suiscide bomber.
@Jake Kelly: Were you born when 9/11 happened or?
@Darren:
why do people make vague random posts. dont be a coward and just state your point
@Darren: I was born before 9/11 but I’m specifically talking about mass shootings comparing one individual with a gun in a public place to a group of terrorists with three airplanes is just borderline idiocy because of course the results are going to be far more tragic and destructive but 9/11 was a once in a lifetime level attack these shootings are as commonplace in today’s news as celebrity gossip and the vast majority of mass shootings are done by white guys with guns and to downplay the severity by comparing lethal shootings with the 9/11 attacks is a bit bad out
When will Trumps ban on all white people entering the UDA kick in “until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
@LittleBee: *USA
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