Two Of The Three Gilroy Victims Were Children

We learned in the Gilroy Police Chief's press conference that the victims were aged 6, 13, and mid-20s. Furthermore, the gun was purchased legally.
By Aliza Worthington — July 29, 2019

The small town of Gilroy, CA suffered one of the latest mass shootings, reflecting our country's national shameful refusal to enact meaningful gun control. Note the language: "one of the latest" because over the weekend there was also a mass shooting in Chippewa County, PA and Brooklyn, NY. Don't worry about the Orthodox Jewish man shot outside his synagogue in Miami yesterday. That's only a hate crime, not a mass shooting. (Do I have to explicitly state that the last sentence was written with sarcasm, disgust, and dismay?)

Back to Gilroy, a group gathered to address the press with the latest information they had on the deaths, injuries, and updates on the investigation. We heard from Gilroy's mayor, the police chief, and the FBI officer assisting local law enforcement. Police chief Scott Smithee spoke with pride of his officers, and appreciation for the way they managed to eliminate the threat from the shooter within a minute, despite the fact they were out-gunned. The 19-year-old shooter had purchased the gun legally in Nevada just a few weeks ago.

CHIEF SMITHEE: When the calls came in, shots being fired, the closest team of officers responded immediately. They were there and engaging the suspect in less than a minute. The suspect was armed with an assault-type rifle and as soon as he saw the officers, he engaged the officers and fired at the officers with that rifle. And I had three officers that engaged the suspect. Despite the fact they were out-gunned with their handguns against a rifle, those three officers were able to fatally wound that suspect and the event ended quickly.

His went on to convey the worst of the information. Two of the three fatalities were children, a 6-year-old boy, and a 13-year-old girl. The third victim was barely emergent from childhood, a young man in his twenties. At least 15 injured. Chief Smithee reluctantly confirmed the name of the shooter, who was killed by police, and that they're investigating a second suspect.

CHIEF SMITHEE: We do have three people deceased, confirmed deceased. We have one who was a six-year-old, a six-year-old male victim. We also had a 13-year-old female victim, and then we had another male victim in his twenties. We don't have a motive for the shooting yet. We did have reports of a potential second suspect. We don't have any confirmation that a second suspect did any shooting but we certainly are investigating all leads to determine who that potential second suspect is and what exactly that person's role was. We found, some of the federal agencies helping us, we found out the rifle that the suspect used was an SKS, it was an ak-47-type assault rifle. It was purchased legally in the state of Nevada on July the 9th of this year.

Legally. A 19-year-old purchased an ak-47 legally, then killed children with it.

God Bless America.

You can watch the entire press conference here:

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