Hispanic Boy Dies In California Festival Shooting

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A Hispanic boy has died after being one of the victims in a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic food festival in California.

Stephen Romero, 6, was among the three people who died Sunday night when a gunman snuck into the festival and started shooting. Eleven others were injured in what was supposed to be a family event.

Authorities found the suspect in a minute and he was shot dead, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee told CNN.

The little boy attended the festival with his mother, who was shot in the hand and stomach, but is expected to recover.

The Romero family has no consolation.

"They told me he was in critical condition and that they were working on it," Alberto Romero, Stephen's father, told the newspaper to CNN affiliate Mercury News. "Five minutes later they told me he was dead."

Paternal grandmother Maribel Romero went from one hospital to another to look for him when she found out what had happened. "Stephen was a happy boy," he told CNN. "This is really difficult, there are no words to describe it."

About 100,000 people attend the festival each year. The event has helped raise "millions of dollars for local schools, charities and non-profit organizations," says the festival's website.