On July 28, three people were killed when a gunman found a way into a garlic festival and opened fire.  The shooting happened Sunday afternoon as the three-day Gilroy Garlic Festival came to an end. The annual festival brings in more than 100,000 people to the city, Authorities responded within a minute to the festival and killed the shooter, who was identified as a 19-year-old man from the area.

During a press conference on Monday, police stated that he used an AK-47-style rifle that he had legally purchased in Nevada. The 3 ID’d as victims were, a 6 year old boy, a 13 year old girl, and a man in his 20’s. Some witnesses reported a second suspect but, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said,” it was unclear whether that person opened fire.” Police confronted the gunman within a minute of shots being fired while witnesses reported confusion and panic as shots rang out at the annual food festival in the city of 50,000 located near San Jose.

Three mass shootings in the United States left 34 people dead and dozens more wounded in the past week. They occurred in Dayton, Ohio, El Paso, Texas, and this weekend in Gilroy, California. The three cities, Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton join a long list of mass killings plaguing the nation. Their death tolls do not include two of the gunman, the shooter in Dayton was killed by responding officers, and the one in Gilroy killed himself at the scene police confirmed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families who lost their loved ones during this tragedy.