SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The gunman who attacked the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California late Sunday where he killed three people, later committed suicide during an exchange of fire with local police officers, Gilroy police confirmed Friday at a press conference.
Initial autopsy results showed the shooter, 19-year-old Santino William Legan, died of "a self-inflicting gunshot wound" after he opened fire with an AK-47 variant assault rifle on the crowd of the garlic festival, Gilroy Police Department Chief Scot Smithee said.
The updated information provided by the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner and made known Friday afternoon upended an earlier police account that the gunman had been killed by three police officers.
Smithee said Legan was engaged by the three officers patrolling nearby in less than a minute after he shot randomly at the festival-goers and killed three participants, including a six-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 25-year-old student from a New York-based college.
During the exchange of fire, Smithee said, the police officers shot multiple times at the gunman and brought him to the ground, but Legan "was able to get one more round off, and he was able to shoot himself in the head."
Smithee insisted that the three police officers were still heroes because their timely response prevented what could have become worse.
"There is no doubt that they eliminated the threat, which helped save lives of innocent people and ended the incident as quickly as possible," said Smithee. "In my mind this changes nothing."
The mass shooting occurred on July 28, the final day of the annual festival, at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy city, about 80 miles (about 129 km) southeast of San Francisco.
Gilroy police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation are still probing the violence and have not determined the motive of the 19-year gunman.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival, which started in 1979, is now known across the globe as the world's greatest summer food fair, featuring three full days of garlicky food, live entertainment, and family fun.
About 247 mass shootings have taken place cross the United States this year, leaving nearly 300 people dead, according to Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research organization that runs a database of gun-related crime in the country.
