GILROY (AP/KRON) – A law enforcement official says the gunman in the California festival shooting has been identified as 19-year-old Santino William Legan.
Police said Legan was heard to be “really angry” as he opened fire during the last day of the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday, killing three young people.
Police said Legan had an assault-style rifle and appeared to shoot at random, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said.
The SKS, an “AK-47 type” rifle, was purchased legally in Nevada on July 9, he said, adding that his understanding is that Legan purchased the weapon himself.
A gun shop in Fallon, Nevada posted on social media Monday, saying the gunman ordered the rifle used in the shooting online.
Big Mike’s Guns and Ammo said on Facebook, the store would never sell a firearm to “anyone who acted wrong or looks associated with any bad group like white power.”
It is believed that Legan, though originally from Gilroy, had been living with family members in Nevada, Smithee said, adding that he does not know how long Legan had been back in California.
Police were searching the gunman’s car Monday evening just before 5 p.m.
A neighbor who lives near the Legan family home in Gilroy that was searched by SWAT officers said “this is really a normal, quite quiet neighborhood.
Legan had apparently just graduated high school last year, according to a witness who said he went to the same school as him.
“We all knew of him. He graduated last year, I believe. Nothing really out of the ordinary, you would think,” he said.
When asked if the shooter seemed angry or if anything seemed amiss back then when he was in high school, the witness said he’d seen him walk by and “he seemed just like a completely normal guy.”
Legan appears to have posted two photos on Instagram the day of the shooting, including one just minutes before he opened fire.
Legan’s since-deleted Instagram account says he is Italian and Iranian.
It also shows a photo he posted earlier depicting Smokey the Bear in front of a “fire danger” sign.
In the caption, Legan said to read “Might is Right,” a book published in the 1800s.
The philosophy says that whoever is strongest is morally right.
Minutes before the shooting, he posted a photo from the festival: “Ayyy garlic festival time” and “come get wasted on overpriced (stuff).”
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