A gunman has opened fire on the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, killing at least three people and injuring around a dozen others, before being shot dead by police.
Witnesses described scenes of panic and chaos as a man carrying what appeared to be an assault rifle targeted festival-goers in a food area.
Gilroy's police chief says the suspect cut through a fence to access the festival and that a second suspect may have assisted him. A manhunt is underway for the second suspect, he said.
A gunman who opened fire on the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, killing at least three people and injuring around a dozen others, has been shot dead by police.
As videos from the scene showed thousands fleeing and gunshots ringing out, Gilroy's police chief said the suspect had cut through a fence to access the festival.
The gunman was confronted and killed by officers less than a minute after he opened fire, Scot Smithee said.
Police are hunting for a second suspect who may have assisted the shooter, Smithee said. It is not certain at this stage whether the second suspect also opened fire.
Singer Jack van Breen said his band Tin Man was just starting an encore when the first shots rang out.
He said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and greyish handkerchief around his neck fire into the food area with what looked like an assault rifle.
Van Breen and other members of the band dove under the stage, he told the Associated Press. He said he heard someone shout: "Why are you doing this? "and the reply: "because I'm really angry."
One witness, Evenny Reyes, said she and others didn't run at first because the gunshots sounded like fireworks. "It was like the movies — everyone was crying, people were screaming," she said.
Todd Jones, a sound engineer, told the Mercury News that he was at the front of the festival's Vineyard stage when he heard what sounded like a firework.
"But then it started to increase, more rapidly, which sounded more like gunfire, and at that point people realised what was happening," Jones said.
The festival is a nationally famous three-day event that attracts upwards of 100,000 garlic enthusiasts from across the country. Sunday was the last day of festivities.
Agents from federal agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene and responding to the shooting.
The Gilroy Police Department issued a statement on Twitter urging people who had become separated from loved ones in the chaos to meet at a nearby college car park.
"The hearts of Gilroy PD and entire community go out to the victims of today's shooting at the Garlic Festival," the statement read.
According to local media reports, four people are now confirmed dead, including one suspect, with at least 15 injured.
Television station NBC11 reported a six-year-old boy, Steven Romero, was among the dead, and his mother and grandmother had received non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, said the shooting was “nothing short of horrific”. He added that his office was monitoring the situation closely.
“At first I thought some idiot was setting off fireworks, but then we saw him,” he said. “Once he locked in on us, I ran.”
Mark Mendoza, 16, told the paper he was eating at some picnic tables with his family when the shooting started. He said the shooter was wearing a tactical vest, camouflage trousers and a hat.
“There were a lot of kids, the shooter was next to a kid’s play area,” he said
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