Los Angeles Times - 02.08.2019

B4 FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 LATIMES.COM

It was around 5 p.m. Sun-
day when Santino William
Legan cut a hole in the fence
at the Gilroy Garlic Festival,
clambered through and
opened fire on festival-goers
with an AK-47-style rifle be-
fore he was killed by police,
authorities said.
Three people were killed:
6-year-old Stephen Romero,
13-year-old Keyla Salazar
and 25-year-old Trevor Irby.
Witnesses told law en-
forcement they believed
they saw a second assailant.
At a recent news conference,
Gilroy Police Chief Scot
Smithee said video taken
from businesses in Gilroy
show that Legan was alone
as he moved around town.
“Our investigation is
leading us more and more
to believe there was not a
second person involved,”
Smithee said. “We’re still fol-
lowing up leads because
people continue to say, ‘I saw
this’ or ‘I saw that,’ and we
want to follow every one of
those leads all the way
through.”
Investigators said they
are still trying to understand
what motivated the 19-year-
old Gilroy native to open fire
Sunday.
They said their best
chance of figuring that out is

through the gunman’s dig-

ital footprint.

“A review of digital media

historically has been very re-

vealing in terms of some-

body’s mindset, ideological

beliefs, intentions,” Craig

Fair, assistant special agent

in charge of the FBI’s San

Francisco office, told report-

ers at a news conference.

In the last few days, in-

vestigators have collected

hard drives and thumb

drives from Legan’s home in

Nevada, where he recently

lived and purchased the rifle

used in the attack, and

searched his home in Gilroy.

A law enforcement

source said Tuesday that

authorities had recovered

extremist materials during a

search,though the source

would not elaborate on their

nature.

Authorities have re-

viewed social media sites

and are trying to get into

Legan’s phone to figure out

whom he was in touch with

and what sentiments he was

sharing with others.

Inside the Garlic City

Barbers, Randy Rodriguez

shook his head as he lined up

a customer’s hairline with a

straight razor.

“It’s shocking it was

someone from here,” he said.

“We didn’t think our com-

munity had people like

that.”

Rodriguez, 33, who co-

owns the barber shop near

downtown, said his son was

volunteering at the festival

Sunday, selling misters with

his teammates on the Chris-

topher High football team,

when shots rang out. Rodri-

guez said he didn’t know

about the shooting until his

son called to say he was safe.

Legan remains a much

talked-about mystery in

town, Rodriguez said.

“I’ve been cutting hair

here 13 years. I’ve never

heard of him. All the clients

are saying, ‘We don’t know

who this guy is.’ ”

Jose Montes, a local de-

veloper, said he is mourning

not just the deaths of Keyla,

Stephen and Irby, but sym-

pathizes with the Legan

family as well.

“That family lost its son,”

he said. “It’s just very sad to

see a young individual suf-

fering to the extent that he

did what he did. I wish some-

one had reached him

sooner.”

Linda Ashford woke up

Wednesday to news that two

people had been shot to

death at a Walmart in Mis-

sissippi. The shootings hap-

pen so frequently, often

under such similar circum-

stances, she said: “We don’t

remember which one is

which.”

Standing behind the

counter of her antiques

shop, Ashford said it was

strange to think the Gilroy

attack probably would have

become part of the blur —

three dead, a dozen

wounded,another in the lit-

any of mass killings that

lengthens every week — had

it not happened here, where

Ashford has lived for three

decades.

“It’s sad because it’s not

—not normal, but not sur-

prising,” she said. “That

shooting at the Walmart:

What makes that anything

less than what happened

here?”

By Wednesday, the news

trucks had mostly de-

camped. Downtown was

quiet; it felt, Ashford said,

“just a little bit off.”

“I’m not sure how to get

that back — the normalcy.

Maybe it’s just time,” she

said. “You just got to get up

the next morning and plug

away.”

Len Silva was waiting

outside a silkscreen shop to

buy a “Gilroy Strong” shirt.

A resident of nearby Hollis-

ter, Silva volunteered at the

festival Friday and Saturday

but stayed home Sunday.

Even when people aren’t

talking much about the

shooting, he said, it’s clearly

on their minds. “The whole

town is just somber,” Silva

said. “It’s kind of eerie.”

At the intersection of 6th

and Forest streets, Sergio

Alvarez, 81, a Marine veter-

an, took a rest on his walker.

“I have to keep moving at

my age,” he said, chuckling.

Two years ago, Alvarez

and his wife moved to Gilroy

to be close to his children

and grandchildren. He said

he has fallen in love with the

town because of its greenery

and open fields that remind

him of the town where he

grew up in Chile.

He said the shooting was

a terrible thing and he’s con-

fused why such events keep

happening in the country.

He hopes that everyone will

be able to heal and move on

in the next few months. He

has no doubts that Gilroy

will recover.

“I love Gilroy,” he said.

A block from City Hall, a

newspaper rack displayed

copies of the Gilroy Dis-

patch. They were dated Fri-

day, July 26.

Over a photograph of two

smiling, teenage volunteers,

the headline promised a

weekend of “Clove and Hap-

piness.”

RESIDENTS OF GILROY,Calif., are struggling to move on from the mass shooting Sunday that left three dead, including two children,
and 12 wounded at the city’s annual Garlic Festival. Authorities are investigating digital media owned by the gunman, who was a resident.

Kent NishimuraLos Angeles Times

Gilroy begins to process its losses

[G ilroy,from B1]

ficers made several arrests

for gun possession.

On Thursday, Venita

Thomas, 54, of Kansas City,

Mo., scribbled her name on a

mural of Hussle in the

nearby alley, which will re-

main open to the public. She

had brought her grand-

daughter to the spot to see a

piece of history and feel Hus-

sle’s presence, she said, but

was disappointed to learn

that a blockade was erected

around the area.

“It’s disappointing,” she

said. “This is a landmark

now. Like Tupac, he’s a leg-

end in his own right.”

She felt the need to go to

the site much as she felt the

need to go on the tour of

Martin Luther King Jr.’s

church in Atlanta.

“It brings me to tears, be-

ing here,” she said.

Adream Reese, 42, of Dal-

las snapped photos of the

store’s sign before the fence

covered the view. She said

she hopes something pos-

itive in memory of Hussle

will be done.

“We need those type of

people for our kids to look up

to,” Reese said.

Kahllid Al-Alim, presi-

dent of the Park Mesa

Heights Community Coun-

cil, said he was concerned

about how the fence would

affect the other businesses

in the lot, as well as people

who want to mourn Hussle.

Fans, both tourists and

locals, should be able to

grieve for him “in a way

that’s reflective of his fam-

ily’s values and what he

would have wanted,” Al-

Alim said. But he noted that

nearby residents have com-

plained about increased

traffic and cars blocking

their driveways. Ultimately,

he said, he hopes the fence

will be an interim measure.

“I’m not sure what the

fence would accomplish,” Al-

Alim said. “I hope we can get

past the fence real quickly.”

Hussle, 33, was fatally

shot outside of his store.

Two other men were

wounded. Police have de-

scribed the shooting as the

culmination of a personal

dispute. Fledgling rapper

Eric Holder, 29, has been in-

dicted on one count of mur-

der, two counts of attempted

murder and other charges.

Memorials in the days af-

ter his death drew huge

crowds to South L.A., and

one night became chaotic

amid rumors of gunfire.

Fence

part of

a ‘larger

plan’

[Hussle, from B1]

paying for service. A settle-
ment in Jones’ class-action
suit against the city was an-
nounced in 2015 and ap-
proved by a judge in 2017.
Court documents in a re-
lated lawsuit revealed that
Jones didn’t know that at-
torney Paradis also had
been retained by City Atty.
Mike Feuer’s office. Paradis
worked for the city on a law-
suit against Pricewater-
houseCoopers, the consult-
ing firm that implemented
the DWP’s billing software,
and consulted on the Jones
case.
Paradis also secured
$36 million in no-bid con-
tracts from the DWP to help
remedy the billing problems
—work that was tied to the
settlement in the Jones case.
The FBI raid last week at
Feuer’s office was focused on
that settlement and the case
against Pricewaterhouse-
Coopers.
Jones hasn’t been ac-
cused of wrongdoing. His at-
torneys, Jeff Isaacs and
Paige Shen, declined to com-
ment on the filing.
Paradis’ attorney also
didn’t immediately respond
to a request for comment.
The New York lawyer denied
wrongdoing earlier this year.
Rob Wilcox, a spokesman
for Feuer’s office, said that
“Mr. Jones’ allegations
against the city are com-
pletely without merit.”
Separately, attorneys for
DWP customer Dennis
Bradshaw on Wednesday
filed a class-action lawsuit in
federal court against the
city, Feuer and attorneys in-
volved in the Jones lawsuit,
alleging professional mal-
practice, unjust enrichment

and more.

Bradshaw, a Los Angeles

renter and DWP customer,

received a credit to his De-

cember 2017 bill as part of the

Jones settlement. His suit

alleges that Jones’ attorneys

and the city colluded to de-

prive class members of their

rights in that case.

Bradshaw’s attorney, Fil-

ippo Marchino, said in an in-

terview that the lawsuit

seeks unspecified damages.

In response, Wilcox said

the suit is “completely full of

misrepresentations and

falsehoods when it comes to

the city and the city attor-

ney’s office.”

Fraud allegations sur-

rounding the settlement of

the Jones case prompted the

court this year to appoint

new attorneys to represent

ratepayers.

Those attorneys said in a

court filing last week that

the settlement is “suspect”

and the agreement needs to

be reexamined and possibly

reworked.

This week, attorneys for

the city submitted a declara-

tion by the mediator in the

Jones case.

“The settlement terms

are fair, reasonable, ade-

quate and an excellent out-

come for all concerned due

to the fact that all ratepayers

filing claims will receive 100%

of any overcharge,” wrote re-

tired Judge Dickran M.

Tevrizian.

After last week’s FBI

raids, DWP General Man-

ager David Wright — who

had worked closely with Par-

adis — stepped down. Three

other employees, including

Chief Administrative Officer

Donna Stevener, also left the

utility, a DWP spokesman

confirmed.

A excerpt of a federal

search warrant reviewed by

The Times showed that in-

vestigators were seeking evi-

dence about a wide array of

possible crimes, including

bribery, kickbacks and viola-

tions of electric reliability

standards — rules meant to

ensure that electricity keeps

flowing to customers.

DWP faces new legal claim and class-action suit

THE HEADQUARTERSof the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which was raided by the FBI

last week in connection with a legal settlement over the disastrous 2013 rollout of customer billing software.

Robert GauthierLos Angeles Times

The suit is ‘full of

misrepresentations

and falsehoods

when it comes to

the city and the

city attorney’s

office.’

—Rob Wilcox,

spokesman for the city attorney,

responding to a suit alleging

professional malpractice

[D WP,from B1]