The shooter who killed three and injured 13 in Gilroy, California, was exploring “violent ideologies” and had a “target list,” the FBI says.
The list included “religious institutions, federal buildings, courthouses, political organizations from both major political parties, and the Gilroy Garlic Festival,” FBI Agent John Bennett said during the press conference.
Bennett added: “Even though the threat appears to have been mitigated by the subject’s death, the FBI has a responsibility to notify individuals and organizations of potential threats or acts of violence. We are in the process of notifying those groups.”
Bennett said the bureau will open a “full domestic terrorism investigation” into the July 28 attack after the discovery of the target list.
The 19-year-old shooter, whom the FBI previously described as “kind of a loner,” killed 25-year-old Trevor Irby, 13-year-old Keyla Salazar, and 6-year-old Stephen Romero before turning his AK-47 rifle onto himself at a popular food festival.
“We all knew of him,” a witness who went to the same school as the shooter told reporters. “He graduated last year, I believe. Nothing really out of the ordinary, you would think.”
The Gilroy shooting came just a week prior to two other mass shootings that took place Saturday at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and early Sunday in a nightlife section of Dayton, Ohio. The El Paso death toll rose to 22 Monday, and the Dayton shooting left nine dead.
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