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At Least Three Dead, 15 Injured In Shooting At North Carolina Festival. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 29, 2019 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen from CNN Center and we continue to track a deadly shooting in the U.S. state of California. Authorities say at least one person is dead, at least 11 injured after shots rang out at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, that south of San Francisco.

We are waiting for a news conference from city officials. The Gilroy Police Department has said it is still an active crime scene and are warning people to stay away. A law enforcement source tells CNN that they have recovered a firearm and rifle ammunition. You're about to see and hear video from the shooting, a warning some of it is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on? What's going on? Is that fire? What's going on? Oh, that's shooting. Who shoots at a Garlic Festival? What's going on? What's going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Obviously confusion and disbelief there from people attending the festival that someone was there shooting. The Gilroy Garlic Festival is a food and music event popular with families. Some 100,000 attend every year. Here's how one witness described what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounded like firecrackers going off but then there's dirt puffs going up in unison. I also saw people covered in blood so it's -- when someone I saw they had blood splatter all over him and handprints on them. It was -- it was very scary. I was texting my family and telling him I loved them because I had no idea what was going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Let's check-in now with CNN's Paul Vercammen. He is in our Los Angeles Bureau. We've been hearing relatively the same things, Paul, from so many people and many of those that we have interviewed we're standing very close to that shooter and were able to describe him as a young man may be between 25 and 35 that just started shooting, Paul, and continued. What else are you learning?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we try to learn more about that particular shooter, let's give you a sense for just how big this Christmas Hill Park is where this took place. It's almost 52 acres for this Garlic Festival. And as you pointed out, Natalie, over the three days, it often has more than 100,000 visitors.

Now, we should note that there are three stages so we're looking to clarify this. And if you look at the terrain, it is wooded in parts. There are ball fields and horseshoe pits, as we said, three stages. And so you can imagine as authorities might have been looking for or were looking for a shooter, they had a lot of ground to cover.

You pointed out, at CNN we have confirmation of one person killed and 11 injured. Again, Gilroy California is between several cities in the area, Salinas and San Jose, 80 miles to the north to San Francisco, not uncommon for people throughout that part of the state to visit the Garlic Festival, Monterey Bay not far at all, extremely popular. People dropping down from Silicon Valley to enjoy this outdoor event.

Of course that quiet, that peace that people seek in a festival like this absolutely shattered earlier this evening, Natalie.

ALLEN: Yes, and the fact that it's a family festival and we've been hearing the witnesses talk about the fact that -- Dan Simon just interviewed a woman who said her ten-year-old granddaughter sheltered a three-year-old in a tent. And those are just a few of the stories that we've heard about you know, people helping each other but that's quite tremendous that a ten-year-old had the wherewithal to do that.

It seems the key here and what unfortunately many of us in this country are learning about what to do in the event of a mass shooting is to run, and that's what many people did and they were so fortunate to get away from what we presume was one shooter.

[01:05:00] VERCAMMEN: Well, that's exactly right, Natalie, but as you know, law enforcement still not declaring this an inactive scene, very much saying that it's active and we're waiting for word on that. And then, of course, it's not our job to cheerlead in stories but we're hoping -- let's be honest. I mean, we're all human. We're hoping that there was just the one shooter and this is resolved.

But again, we don't know if that's the case. We do know this, that there was a huge response from the medical community not only Gilroy City Fire, etcetera, and ambulances there. We know that Cal Fire jumped into the fray here with air ambulances and that the victims were transported to multiple hospitals in the area, Natalie.

ALLEN: All right, Paul Vercammen, Paul, standby. Let's talk with CNN National Security Analyst now Juliette Kayyem. You've been listening, Juliet, to so many witnesses in these past two hours talk about what they saw, what they heard. It's amazing that they can be so articulate after going through this. But we did hear from one woman who's to her understanding, she

believes that maybe the suspect was shot and maybe we'll hear from the Gilroy Police about that. But as Paul just said it's considered still an active scene. What do you make of that?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Just based on my experience because I do want to be careful here as well. You know a single eyewitness account that's not corroborated by any of the other eyewitnesses you've talked to, I'm going to take with a grain of salt.

I also think as I've been texting with your producers as we head into the morning that the delay in the police departments press conference over -- you know, since we went on-air together at 11:00 means that this thing is not settled. There's either now we've moved from -- you know, they have common as say for example, if the shooters not in the enclosed area but maybe on the run and that they're preparing the public for that.

And so I'll just be a bit cautious on that single statement. But I do think that we've heard enough people describe one and only one shooter. That matters for variety of reasons. There's lots of rumors about second and even third shooters, but we've only heard about an identification of one, and I think we will probably get confirmation of that, and that that shooter is white and was heavily armed and possibly in camouflage.

All that matters especially if we're on a search phase right now. But as I've been saying you, Natalie, this is you know, why the Police Department is -- you know, should come out with numbers just because we want to begin to assess where the reality is and where the rumors are because you have a public that's very nervous right now.

ALLEN: Sure. The fact that we hear that a rifle was recovered. How helpful is that?

KAYYEM: Oh well, it's incredibly helpful. And we have to be careful again. But if a rifle has been taken -- I mean, first of all, we have a make and model so we can determine what rifle was utilized. Is it a legal rifle? What is it -- how was it purchased? Who was it purchased by? What was it sort of chain of custody if it was taken illegally so you have a lot by having the weaponry.

But it also may mean that the assailant either got away without -- by pretending to be just a member of the public. We've seen that before in some active shooters where they drop the weaponry and act like you know, sort of a scared public member.

So that's part of sort of I think an emerging theory that at least for now we don't have any proof that a suspect has been apprehended. I've done this enough now, I'm being very careful but I think --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more than three to five questions. We are planning a press conference first thing tomorrow morning which will be pushed out via our social and digital media platforms. My name is Captain --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: All right, it sounds like we're getting close to a police news conference. And Juliet, we'll just jump in when that happens. I know you're used to that happening.

KAYYEM: Yes.

ALLEN: So yes, you were talking about the benefit of a weapon being found.

KAYYEM: Right so --

ALLEN: Go ahead.

KAYYEM: Yes, you would just have a search chain of custody at this stage. I was just saying --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROLAND VELASCO, GILROY CALIFORNIA: I want to express my extreme shock and sadness for what has happened today. This is an active investigation. I would ask for the thoughts and prayers of the community as our Gilroy Police officers continue to investigate this tragic and senseless crime.

Also, our thoughts and prayers are going out to the victims and their families. We are again continuing the investigation. We plan on being out here all night. And as was said earlier there will be another press conference tomorrow.

As the investigation continues, our local law enforcement and their partners will investigate every aspect of this crime. And later you will receive additional information from the chief regarding reunification and ways for individuals to contact the city and reconnect with their loved ones. All right, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:10:50] ALLEN: All right, that was the mayor of Gilroy and we were waiting to see if someone else is going to come through the microphone but -- here we go. Let's continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOT SMITHEE, POLICE CHIEF, GILROY CALIFORNIA: I mean, obviously this is one of those press conferences that you never want have to give in your community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you speak louder. We're very far.

SMITHEE: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. SMITHEE: This is one of those press conferences you never want to

have to give in your community. It's sort of a nightmare that you hope you never have to live in a reality but unfortunately, we find ourselves in the circumstances where we have to live this today. I'm going to give you some brief information with the information that I have right now.

We have literally dozens of officers working on this as we speak so a lot more information will be coming to light throughout the evening and into the morning, tomorrow. And as we have additional information to share, we'll push out through our social media platforms all right and we'll set up another press conference so that we can share that information with you.

This incident tonight started at about 5:41 p.m. There were reports of shooting on the north side of the Garlic Festival area. My officers were in that area and engaged the suspect in less than a minute. The suspect was shot and killed.

It appears as if though they had come into the festival via the creek which borders parking area and they used some sort of a tool to cut through the fence to be able to gain access through the secure fence line, and that's how they got into the festival area itself.

We have one suspect we know that is down. We have some witnesses reporting that there may have been a second suspect but we don't know if that suspect was engaged in any shooting or whether they may have been in some sort of a support role for the person that we have accounted for.

We have at least 15 people injured. We have four fatalities that we know of including the suspect. The officers that engaged the suspect, obviously, we have a protocol that we need to deal with for that so Santa Clara County has a protocol on dealing with officer-involved shootings. That's just another layer of complexity with the shooting that we're investigating from the suspect.

We put out a call for assistance. We had many, many officers in the park at the time that this occurred as we do any day during festival which accounts has been a very, very quick response time. When we put out the call for help, we've gotten help from agencies all across Santa Clara County and Monterey County.

And I can't thank those agencies enough. They came from you know, pretty good distance as a way to be here to help support and provide assistance with our investigation in dealing with the chaos of the scene at the time that had occurred.

We have set up some things, you know, a reunification because you know, in the panic people sell out different ways and they came in and families got separated, and so we have this area at Gavilan College in Gilroy set up as a reunification area to try to reunite families that got separated.

We also have a phone number for families to be able to call, and we have people staffing those phone numbers to work on the reunification process. That phone number is area code 408-846-0584. We also are asking for any witnesses because there was quite a number of people in the park.

Anybody that witnessed this incident that can tell us anything, that took any photographs, that perhaps videotaped anything that might be relevant to this investigation to please contact us and we've set up a special phone number for witnesses as well. And that phone number is 408-846-0583. And that's about what I know at this point in time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

[01:15:51] SMITHEE: We believe based on witness statements that there was a second individual involved in some way. We just don't know in what way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a description of this person?

SMITHEE: I do not at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a motive --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we know anything about the suspect?

SMITHEE: I don't have any information on the suspect yet. That will take a little bit of time as with the victims as well. That will take some time before we identify them and make family notification.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: As I said, we've gotten assistance from literally dozens of law enforcement agencies across two counties and so we have teams working to try to track down and identify leads regarding the second suspect. We're very hopeful that with the witnesses and statements that people are able to give us, that that will help us to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we have security camera at the festival?

SMITHEE: Security cameras? No, not posted security cameras. No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The second person was not armed? Is that true?

SMITHEE: We do not know what the involvement is of the second person at this point in time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you verify the amount of people injured? (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: You know, I don't know what the injuries are. I haven't got a report on that. I do know that the list that they're keeping the master list, it was up to 15 people the last time I looked at it and that included the fourth --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: I have no idea what the motive is at this point.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- made you suggest that there was a second shooter or someone working with the shooter? (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: You know, I'm sorry, I don't have specifics on that other than people reported as subject leaving the area that they thought was associated with this person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it the Gilroy officers that took him out?

SMITHEE: It was Gilroy officers that engage the suspect. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have like age range of those who were injured?

SMITHEE: You know, I do not have the age range at this point. I'm sorry. We'll be able to get more of that when we do it update tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) among the fatalities?

SMITHEE: I do not know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What type of weapon (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: He was -- he had some sort of a rifle but I don't know what type of rifle it was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talked to people who went to the festival that has questions about security. Do you know if people have to pass through metal detectors, bag searches?

SMITHEE: Yes, they do have to go through metal -- they have ones that they use on people. They search bags. We have very tight security for getting people into the festival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it appears that this guy got into a fence, cutting through a fence. Is that correct?

SMITHEE: The indications initially given to me is that they use some sort of a tool to cut through a perimeter fence to gain access.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have reports that the shooter was (INAUDIBLE) police officer. Can you verify that at all?

SMITHEE: I have not heard that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: It is -- it is an active scene and because of the magnitude, it will continue to be active for some time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: I do not know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll take one more question, folks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're told the shooter was shooting at random. Do you know (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: You know, I don't feel comfortable making an assumption but it appears that way at least initially that it was somewhat random as he moved out into the festival area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SMITHEE: Well, you know, make that the last question. You know, the city of Gilroy is an incredible community and we have incredible people here. And I'm really proud to have been the chief and you know, lead this force because we have such a wonderful community and community support.

And I think that this festival is a perfect example of that because it takes literally thousands of our residents that volunteer their time to come put this on for people and to raise funds for all of our community-based organizations and charities and whatnot and you can't say that about a lot of communities.

And I think that the number of people that are willing to give their time with the betterment of other people is a wonderful thing and it's just incredibly sad and disheartening that an event that is -- does so much good for our community has to suffer from a tragedy like this.

[01:20:53] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a manhunt to the second suspect? Is that a fair characterization?

SMITHEE: I would say that's a fair characterization. And I'm going to -- I'm going to stop now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to allow the Executive Director of the Garlic Festival Mr. Brian Bowe to say a couple comments.

BRIAN BOWE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GILROY GARLIC FESTIVAL: Good evening. I'm Brian Bowe, the Executive Director of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. To reiterate a little bit of what Scot Smithee said, Gilroy is an amazing community, a tightly knit community. We are family.

We have the wonderful opportunity in this community to celebrate our family through our Garlic Festival. And for over four decades that festival has been our annual family reunion. And it is such sad, just horribly upsetting circumstance that this happens on the third and final day of this year's festival.

Our 4,000 plus local volunteers work so hard every year. And you have seen this event end this way this day is just one of the most tragic and sad things that I've ever had to see. And we all feel so upset for those that are impacted, friends, families, neighbors. It's just a horrible thing to experience and make me feel worse.

Our prayers go out to the friends and families and loved ones of everyone that was affected by this. We couldn't be more thankful for the really immediate response of the first responders, the police personnel that were on-site. They did an amazing job of controlling the situation as quickly as they possibly could, and we thank them for that.

That's about all that I have to say. I'll refer anymore questions to anyone else here. Thank you very much.

VELASCO: That is yet to be determined. More than likely it will be somewhere closer to City Hall and Police Department. We will push that out via our digital media platforms. I want to take a second to thank you for your patience, understand that our community is grieving.

Like I mentioned earlier, this is an active investigation is fluid. We have multiple allied agencies that are currently assisting us. We will keep you appraised. And once we solidify the time and location, rest assured that we'll put that out so that we could provide you the most current information. Again, thank you and I appreciate your patience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: So there you have it, the first news conference that we have had since this shooting broke out at 5:40 p.m. there in California. The police chief confirming the shooter is dead shot by Gilroy police officers who responded within one minute when this shooter with a rifle started a spraying from the witness accounts that we've gotten, this crowd there some 100,000 at this festival.

The other new information from this news conference going in, we had one person had been killed. Now we know that three people have died from this, the fourth death is the shooter himself, and there are some 15 people hurt. The other thing of course that they reiterated is that this is an active investigation because they believe there could be another suspect, someone working with the shooter -- armed or not, they don't know, or an accomplice.

But again the other important information, even though security was very tight at this festival, people had to go through a security system, they do believe this shooter somehow cut a fence behind the festival and came through a creek to gain access and be there right in front of all of these 0people.

Let's go to CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow. Jonathan, you were listening to this. What do you make of the police response and that they were able to apprehend and kill this shooter?

[01:25:39] JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Listen, you know, law enforcement agencies throughout the United States have been training for these types of moments time and time again. You know, the immediate action of you know, going to the threat, addressing the threat and putting it down is what you know, from the law enforcement perspective is you know an active shooter methodology.

I wanted to just take a step back here and just say that you know, between the event organizers and law enforcement and security. It's at a high level. It seems like they had everything in place in terms of trying to make this event secure. They had bay checks, they had magnetometer checks which is the metal detectors. They had perimeter security so they had some sort of fencing to delineate the perimeter.

So they were doing everything correct and we still had this tragic event which leads me need to believe that the motivation of this attacker to breach the perimeter, to come in through a fence line to launch an attack, this wasn't a crime of opportunity. To me this is seemingly -- it's more of a targeted attack.

The individual was focused on somebody or some group there to go through all of these different you know, ways to come in and launch this attack. I mean, I just think that once we you know, understand who this attacker was, start looking at their social media, everything that will lead us to understand what the intent was, I think that we're going to find it focused on either a small group of people or a single individual that this person was focusing on.

ALLEN: What makes you think that?

WACKROW: Well, again, it's just you know, the -- all of the obstacles, you know, you had a fortified event space. Law enforcement on horseback, bikes we heard earlier, a pretty heavy law enforcement presence that this person had to you know, basically avoid detection. They entered in through a perimeter fencing.

Again, they were -- they were -- their intent was to not just cause harm for the entire group but I think it's focused. You're going to take that type of action to get into a fortified area like that. I mean, you're trying to send a signal to either a group or an individual and I think that as more facts come out, I think we'll start seeing what with that motivation was.

I think that motivation is going to be focused on a smaller group, not an attack on the entire event itself.

ALLEN: All right. And of course, we learned that they're still searching for another person and hopefully that person will be found and shed more light on what was the motivation here. We still haven't had the shooter identified either. Jonathan, thanks so much. We appreciate your insights here.

WACKROW: Thank you.

ALLEN: We'll continue on this story more on this breaking news. We'll hear from a witness at the California Food Festival which was targeted in this multiple shooting. We're learning a lot from the witnesses, many of whom saw the shooter up close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: The latest we have for you now, recapping our top story. The shooting that took place at a festival. At least three people are dead, we learned that just moments ago, and 15 injured after a shooting there at the very large and popular Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California. The police chief just announcing that they shot and killed a suspect.

However there is a man hunt underway right now for a possible second suspect. Scenes have emerged showing people, of course, running as soon as the shots rang out.

Let's go to CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. You were listening to that news conference. What did you make from what we learn from the police chief there -- Juliette?

JULIETTE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, so a couple of things that I took away. I mean from the presser it does seem that it's clear that the gunman had somehow staked out the facility or the festival, the surrounding area, the environment and including the security apparatus.

If you, you know, he tried to get through the fence. He tried to avoid the normal security measures and he came through tearing or cutting up a fence. And he clearly had staked this out and he sort of knew how to avoid at last early detection.

The other thing I want to say and (INAUDIBLE) is if true as I believe it is from the presser that he was brought down within I think they said a minute of engagement, that means he was able to get out a lot of shots in a very quick period of time. Maybe 17 shots, three people dead, 14 injured and maybe others we don't know about.

So I'm very curious about the weaponry and how he got in and where he got it from and is this now one of the situations where the ability, honestly Natalie, the ability for someone to kill someone quickly is what makes our country unique, right.

It's not a handgun. This is not a handgun, let's just put it that way. Something very fast was utilized.

ALLEN: Yes, right. 15 injured that we know of, three dead there in that crowd.

Also what are your thoughts on what Jonathan Roper (ph) just said to me about thinking that maybe this wasn't random, that this was something more focused.

KAYYEM: I think that's why -- I mean so I don't know, or I don't know yet if I would confirm what Jonathan said in terms of maybe there was a group of people.

[01:35:00] But I agree with Jonathan in terms of that, you know, random events, you know, are sort of your, you know, you just like walk down the street and you shoot people over.

This person clearly understood the festival, understood its security measures. What we don't know right now is what was the motivation for him to choose this festival in particular. It maybe, as Jonathan said, you know, rightfully that it was some group of people or person, maybe the owner, maybe the organizer, maybe the city, maybe it's just someone that is known to the city because this is a city. Or is it just because you have a high density of people who are relatively relaxed, having a good time, they are not in the sort of, you know -- they're in a casual posture which is, you know, therefore makes the gunshots that much more overwhelming.

I mean you heard some of these eyewitnesses saying they're just sort of, you know, there's eating and listening to music. You don't even know what it is that the sounds that you're hearing.

ALLEN: Absolutely. The chaos that happens when people who have never been in a shooting before realize they're in one.

Juliette Kayyem -- we so appreciate you staying with us and your expertise. Thanks -- Juliette.

Now let's bring in Charles Ramsey, a CNN law enforcement analyst and the former Philadelphia police commissioner. So Charles I want you to weigh in on what you heard from that news conference and what we know about the shooter who apparently somehow got through the fencing, maybe came through a creek to get into that crowd and start shooting.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well it sounds to me like he may have -- I believe this is the third day of the concert -- he may very well have attended the concert on the first or second day, scoped out the security and looked for vulnerabilities. And then when he made his move he knew exactly what he was doing and how he was going to do it.

You know, this could be something that -- I mean it's a large event, 100,000 or so people over the course of three days. That could've been all it took for him to choose that particular location. He could very well be from around there.

I'm sure right now they're trying to ID him if they haven't already. They're taking his fingerprints. They're working the prints right now. He might have had ID on him but I doubt if he did.

But once they find out who he is and that is when they're able to search his house, search his car, go into his social media, his entire digital footprint. And from that they may actually find out who that second person was that was with him in some capacity.

I would also suggest for anybody watching, if you were there for the first or second day and if you took video, let the police know because you may have actually picked this person up on video if in fact he gave those to that site prior to tonight.

So there is a lot of moving parts right now and they are certainly trying to locate that second person. They're trying to ID this person. They're trying to find out all they can.

But they're on it. And believe me they will have more than enough help from the states and the feds and then what they can do locally.

But thank God, they had good presence there. Police responded very quickly and neutralized the threat. Otherwise this would have been a lot worse.

ALLEN: Yes. Yes 100,000 people in attendance. Update on the people who are injured, shot. Now they're number is 11. That's what we have right now.

Let's talk more about the police response because it was incredible. And they knew having so many people at a festival that security would have to be extremely organized, one witness told us this was the first year considering the fact that the United States has an epidemic of mass shootings that they had people walk through and have their purses and their backpacks search.

So it sounds like they were on top of the situation and you could see the pain from that news conference and the fact that someone infiltrated that.

RAMSEY: Well, I mean like you said the site is almost 52 acres. It's open air, three stages. It's very difficult. You can't have a cop at every two feet. So you do what you can to try to secure it.

You have, you know, one or two points where people have to go through so you can kind of channel them through whatever security you have. You have other people that are roaming. So it seems to me like they took the steps that would be reasonable for you to take when you have a festival like this.

9I mean Las Vegas showed us that any time we have a large gathering of people the possibility of having someone do something like that unfortunately in today's environment is something that you have to take into consideration. It's a shame but it is true.

But fortunately they had enough people there, apparently very well trade. I heard Jonathan mention active shooter training. And that's true. What happens across the country on a regular basis and they're trained to go right towards the gunfire and take out the threat -- period. And apparently that is exactly what they did.

[01:40:02] ALLEN: We appreciate you being with us and helping us sort this out.

Charles Ramsey -- thank you so much.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

ALLEN: Well, throughout our breaking news coverage we have been hearing from many witnesses. Earlier we heard from, I spoke with Miquita Price (ph).

She says said she was standing right next to the shooter when he began the attack and she describes the horror, here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIQUITA PRICE, SHOOTING WITNESS: No. But my family member did. I did because they were on top of me. It was a white male (INAUDIBLE) and we were located -- we were located about 15 feet from the shooter. There was no other way for us to run but out and that is the way performers (ph) were coming at our direction.

ALLEN: How many bullets? How rapidly was the shooting?

PRICE: He had an assault rifle. It was one. There were a lot of bullets that was coming. They were coming and the only reason why we probably wouldn't be here to make this statement (INAUDIBLE) because his rifle got jammed. If not, we probably wouldn't even be here to make this statement right now.

So it's only by the hand of God right now that I am able to even talk to you guys because we were just that close to that shooter.

ALLEN: How close were you?

PRICE: We were about 15 feet aware from that shooter. He came from --

ALLEN: Oh my goodness.

PRICE: -- right in the area where we were eating at.

ALLEN: Oh my goodness -- 15 feet.

PRICE: In an army fatigue outfit.

ALLEN: I'm sorry. What was he wearing?

PRICE: He was wearing army fatigue. (INAUDIBLE) -- army fatigue with an assault rifle.

ALLEN: Did he just -- where would he have walked out from? Can you describe the area --

(CROSSTALKING)

PRICE: -- one of the venues. We were at the eating area. There's nothing but food areas. It's like a horse shoe. And where he was located he came out between one of those buildings and then he started shooting.

ALLEN: Could you tell how many people he was able to shoot, any ideas AS people lay there.

PRICE: It was like 16 people. So far we have confirmed that one person is dead. And (INAUDIBLE) and there is a helicopter waiting to take people away. And that's one located at (INAUDIBLE) in the Gilroy --

ALLEN: Did you see a police response? I know this happened so quickly but were there police on the scene?

PRICE: Yes. I was hiding with a police officer. The lady that was shot, it was me or (INAUDIBLE) she was an officer who's right there. She was hiding with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: And we do know that police responded within one minute and killed the shooter.

We'll will have more on this breaking news story. This shooting in California at a very popular and beloved festival when we continue.

[01:42:50] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Right now, official with the Santa Clara Health System is talking about those injured. Let's listen.

[LIVE EVENT]

JOY ALEXIOU, SANTA CLARA COUNTY HEALTH SYSTEM: Young people in the 20s, somebody 50 and older.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there young children -- little children or young?

ALEXIOU: I don't have their specific ages at this time. I probably will have more of this tomorrow. I don't know that I'm going to get a lot more tonight. And I don't think the patients' situation will change tonight. Anybody who is here now is going to stay overnight.

So, we probably won't have another update for you until tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When was the last time you're health care system has had to work with so many patients from a mass shooting like this?

ALEXIOU: Well, never from a mass shooting. We've never had a mass shooting in Santa Clara County. We've had multiple patients from other sort of emergencies. Most often a hazmat incident we'd get a number of patients.

But this is, you know -- this is a tough situation for our community, for our staff, for the families and the victims. It's just awful. And hopefully we will never see another one of these again. But you know, it's hard to tell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- READY FOR THIS OR WHAT THEIR (INAUDIBLE).

ALEXIOU: No, no. We are -- here we're an emergency department and a trauma center. We are really well staffed to treat the most serious types of injuries.

And like I said our staff did a great job of either just coming in or calling in to come in and help. So we had no delays. We had no staffing issues. That was all handled very well and professionally by our team.

(INAUDIBLE)

ALEXIOU: So often, you know, the patient who has a serious injury will be taken to the closest hospital and probably triage three yards there. And since we are a trauma center, it requires a higher level of care. Then that patient will be transferred here because they need that level of care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were they airlifted --

ALEXIOU: I don't know exactly who was brought which way but we had both ambulances and helicopters deliver patients.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- transferred here, were they at the other hospital --

(CROSSTALKING)

ALEXIOU: Yes. Their injuries, we'll be able to have the trauma center treat those serious injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many patients had to go or are in surgery?

ALEXIOU: I don't know have exact count on how many went into surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- transferred any more --

ALEXIOU: We do not.

Because if someone had need -- had a serious injury they would've been transferred earlier. So I think we got what we're going to get from St. Louise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that suggest that all gunshot victims had to come here?

ALEXIOU: No. They treated three patients of gunshots at St. Louise. Treated and two of them have been discharged.

So it probably wasn't a serious injury that they could do that.

Great team down there. I mean they're part of that community. It's been particularly hard for them tonight. Anything else?

Like I said this is probably it for tonight. Nothing really is going to change. And so we'll either do a stand up or a statement but we'll let you know tomorrow what we're going to do.

(INAUDIBLE)

ALEXIOU: So Santa Clara Valley Medical Center currently have six patients. We had seven earlier tonight. One has been discharged.

[01:49:55] St. Louise got a total of six gunshot wound patients. Two of them were transferred here as part of our count. Three were treated at the hospital, two of those three have been discharged and then they also had a deceased patient at their hospital.

In addition they got another eight patients that were not gunshot wounds, that had other kinds of injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) -- the situation has been -- you guys are controlling things down there. How does that work -- how has it worked better since they were separated?

ALEXIOU: You know, we bring a lot of -- the county brings a lot of resources and help and some of our staff went down there to help out. And also it's easier -- I mean it's always easier for hospital transfer to our trauma center. That would be the case for any hospital in our community.

So that's not really any different. But I think just the support and, you know, any help that they may need. They handled this quote, well. And you know, like I said, they're part of that community. It was really hard for them tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- communication easier when it's your own people?

ALEXIOU: I don't know. I mean we have good systems for communications. We also, you know, train and drill, you know, regionally and for the area hospitals together, maybe not all of the hospitals in the county but over time we probably have trained with a number of them.

And so I think it's more the support than anything that maybe they needed -- we could get to them a little faster. But I think -- I don't think they need it much. I think they did really well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Initially, they had three, you had six --

ALEXIOU: We got two of those --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're watching a mini press conference at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

[END OF LIVE EVENT]

ALLEN: All right. That was an official with the Santa Clara Health System again talking about the fact that there are people who've been shot. One person has been killed they had -- two had been discharged. And she said the ranges of the people who were shot ranged from about 25 years old to someone in their fifties.

And she talked about how this community has pulled together and rallied around the people that need help and somebody else is now on the phone with us who did that as well.

Sydney Liao is joining us. Sidney I'm told you are not at the festival but that you live in Gilroy and that you decided to help people by giving people rides. Tell us what you did.

SYDNEY LIAO: Hi. Yes. I live around the area less than a mile from the event and immediately was called and asked and then promptly heard that there was a shooting. And so the first thing I thought it was that people come from out a town and they're bused in at some parking lot into the festival. And I could not imagine what that would be like during a shooting having to kind of escape that and get back to your car.

So I just jumped into my car and decided to travel around the perimeter to see if any one just needed a lift to their car and area or if they lived in the town and needed to be taken home.

ALLEN: And so how many did you help? I mean how did that work?

LIAO: Well, I saw a lot of people drive up to the perimeter before the entrance because the police did a great job of kind of setting a boundary where people could go in and out and I just saw a lot of concerned faces.

And I was asking around and fortunately a lot of people actually live there so they are able to be home. I came across a group of people around my age, around 22 years old and I was just asked if they need a right to your cars, and they said no, we live in a town can you take us to the nearby high school which is a little bit away from the park.

And two young individuals got into my car, a man and a woman. The young man in my front seat was frantic, saying that he got in kind of late, we understand what he said by that. I just did you see anything, and he basically just said he saw a man jump over the fence even describing what the gun looks like. I'm not familiar with the gun so I don't know exactly what he said.

He said he had an extended magazines and that, I asked him how old he was and he said he was around 30 years old from what he could see that he was running and it was very hard to kind of grapple that he's very frantic and saying I got hit, there's a hole in my front which got into my leg. Or my shorts.

And so I just ended up taking him to the high school where he was meeting his father.

ALLEN: Well that's wonderful that you just, you know, jumped in your car. You're 22 years old and headed toward the scene to help people. That's really remarkable. Sidney -- thanks so much for talking with us.

[01:54:45] Now joining us on the phone is Julissa Contreras. She was an eye witness to the shooting. Julissa -- where were you and what did you see?

JULISSA CONTRERAS, EYE WITNESS: Well, when he started shooting when I saw him, he was about 15 to 20 feet from me. He came around from the end of the food vendor pen -- between the fence and this large inflatable slide where there were a lot of hits on it and he just started shooting.

He just looked like the average guy. He's white, about in his 30s, under six feet but he was wearing like tactical gear. Had a baseball cap on, sunglasses and he had a semi automatic rifle. And he was just shooting left to right, right to left.

ALLEN: What was his demeanor? Did you read anything on his facial expression?

CONTRERAS: He seemed serious, he did not look angry. He is wearing the hat and glasses so expression wasn't really something I could read on his face, but it seems like he was very well versed in what he was doing.

He moved tactically, he seemed like very confident in his use of the gun and he was dressed for what he was there to do.

ALLEN: What did you do at the time? Did you run?

CONTRERAS: When I first heard the shots they were coming from the place I was standing in front of, in the food pen. And I started backing up because I was not sure what that sound was.

I thought it was fireworks for a moment and I realized they were not fireworks. And so I kind started running away and I hid behind a different tent where there were markets, but I could still see over the edge of the tenth, he was just shooting left to right.

ALLEN: It's really remarkable all the people that almost came face to face with the shooter and they still got away. You are one of them.

Julissa -- we're very happy for you. We know this must be a difficult time. Thank you for talking with us.

And just to reiterate with our viewers the shooter is dead, shot by police one minute after he started shooting people. 11 people have been shot. Three people have been killed.

You've been watching CNN's breaking news coverage -- much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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