Home / World News / FBI opens domestic terrorism investigation into mass shooting at California food festival
Key points:
- Santino William Legan killed three people, including two children, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California
- Legan had compiled a list of potential targets including religious institutions, federal buildings, courthouses and both the Democratic and Republican political parties
- The shooter's Instagram account appeared to reference a white supremacist book
The move comes after evidence of "violent ideologies" was found on the gunman's digital devices, officials said.
Santino William Legan killed three people, including two children, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California on July 28 before shooting himself when confronted by police.
The 19-year-old had compiled a list of potential targets including religious institutions, federal buildings, courthouses and both the Democratic and Republican political parties, as well as the festival, special agent John Bennett said.
"Due to the discovery of the target list as well as other information we encountered in this investigation, the FBI has opened a full domestic terrorism investigation into this mass shooting," he told a news conference in Gilroy, 130 kilometres south-east of San Francisco.
The FBI requires evidence that an individual committed their act of violence due to ideological motivation to open a domestic terrorism investigation, Mr Bennett said.
The identities of the specific targets will not be made public while the investigation is ongoing but those on the list were being notified, he added.
"We have not made a final investigative conclusion into the motive of the shooter," Mr Bennett said, describing the gunman's ideology as "fractured" and featuring "varying competing violent ideologies".
Legan's social media, including an Instagram account created days before the shooting, appeared to reference a white supremacist book.
Legan, who used an AK47 assault rifle, was wearing a bulletproof vest during the attack, Gilroy police chief Scot Smithee said.
"The suspect was hit by the police officers' gunfire multiple times," he said.
Santino William Legan killed three people, including two children, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California on July 28 before shooting himself when confronted by police.
The 19-year-old had compiled a list of potential targets including religious institutions, federal buildings, courthouses and both the Democratic and Republican political parties, as well as the festival, special agent John Bennett said.
"Due to the discovery of the target list as well as other information we encountered in this investigation, the FBI has opened a full domestic terrorism investigation into this mass shooting," he told a news conference in Gilroy, 130 kilometres south-east of San Francisco.
The FBI requires evidence that an individual committed their act of violence due to ideological motivation to open a domestic terrorism investigation, Mr Bennett said.
The identities of the specific targets will not be made public while the investigation is ongoing but those on the list were being notified, he added.
"We have not made a final investigative conclusion into the motive of the shooter," Mr Bennett said, describing the gunman's ideology as "fractured" and featuring "varying competing violent ideologies".
Legan's social media, including an Instagram account created days before the shooting, appeared to reference a white supremacist book.
Legan, who used an AK47 assault rifle, was wearing a bulletproof vest during the attack, Gilroy police chief Scot Smithee said.
"The suspect was hit by the police officers' gunfire multiple times," he said.
Home / World News / FBI opens domestic terrorism investigation into mass shooting at California food festival
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