SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The suspect in the deadly shooting at Gilroy's garlic festival Sunday evening legally purchased his rifle in Nevada earlier this month, police said.
Santino William Legan, the 19-year-old believed to have killed three people and injured 12 others, was living with family members in Nevada when he purchased the "SKS, AK-47-type assault rifle" on July 9, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee told reporters Monday.
California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and bans possession of most assault rifles, although it's still unclear whether the gun used in Gilroy would have been prohibited. Californians younger than 21 years old are also banned from purchasing rifles in the state, under a law passed in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting last year.
Nevada, on the other hand, has far looser rules. Nevada law allows residents 18 and older to purchase assault rifles from licensed firearm dealers after passing a background check, and currently doesn't require a check for sales between private individuals. A new law will change that to also mandate background checks for private sales or transfers, although it doesn't go into effect until next year.
A University of California, Berkeley study in 2017 found that in the two weeks after gun shows take place in Nevada, there's a corresponding spike in gun-related deaths and injuries across the state line in California.
"This shooting shows that the lax gun control states contribute to deaths in the most serious gun control states," said John Donohue, a Stanford law professor who studies gun violence. "It really is shameful that we're surrounded by states that don't take this seriously."
Police are still searching for a motive for the shooting. Legan grew up in Gilroy, but it's unclear when he moved to Nevada and when he returned, Smithee said.
Legan was killed in a firefight with three Gilroy police officers soon after he began shooting at the festival, according to authorities.
"Despite the fact they were outgunned with their handguns against a rifle, those three officers were able to fatally wound the suspect, and the event ended fairly quickly," Smithee said.
