Events scheduled to remember victims of Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, first responders
GILROY, Calif. (KION) It has been almost a year since a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, killing three people and injuring a dozen more, and memorials are planned in the city to remember the victims and honor the first responders.
Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco and the City Council will host a virtual memorial service on Facebook on July 28, the one-year anniversary of the shooting. The city said Mayor Velasco will say a few words and they will raise a #GilroyStrong flag.
The Gilroy Strong Resiliency Center and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office are also hosting an event called Rising Together. It will be held on the same day as the city's event, but it will start at 5:15 p.m. on Youtube.
This year's Gilroy Garlic Festival was postponed until July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Christopher Ranch Garlic is hosting a Virtual Garlic Festival. The virtual Grand Finale is expected to start at noon on Christopher Ranch's Facebook page Friday.
Garlic cLOVE Days; an online and virtual event that includes a community awareness day, fit fest day and block party; begins Friday and lasts through Sunday,
The shooting happened on the last day of the festival in 2019, and three people- 6-year-old Stephen Romero, 13-year-old Keyla Salazar and 25-year-old Trevor Irby- were killed. The suspected shooter, 19-year-old Santino William Legan, was killed by police within a minute of the start of the shooting.
