Neighbors have described the shocking moment cops raided the home of the Garlic Festival gun maniac Santino Legan and put his mother in handcuffs.
Tim and Natalie O’Kelley, who live two doors down from the Legan’s, were stunned when an armored SWAT vehicle pulled up at 11.30pm on Sunday night and the suspect’s mother Ardis Legan was ordered to come out with her hands up by armed cops on a loudspeaker.
Raiding the two-story $800,000 detached home on a cul-de-sac in sleepy Gilroy, California, as soon as they arrived, the SWAT team shouted: ‘Residents of 358 Churchill Place come outside because you’re surrounded’, the couple told DailyMail.com.
This came just hours after Legan was shot dead by officers after he opened fire at the festival and killed three: 13-year-old Keyla Salazar, six-year-old Stephen Romero, and 25-year-old Trevor Irby.
A SWAT team raided the home of festival shooter Santino William Legan, 19, Sunday night around 11.30pm and neighbors took video of the incident (seen in screen grabs above)
Neighbors tell DailyMail.com that his mother Ardis Baylor Legan was put in handcuffs after police called her out of the home
Police continued to search the home on Monday and were seen coming and going from the home
Thomas Legan, the suspect’s father, is shown leaving their home on Monday after his son was identified as the suspect. Neighbors do not believe he was home at the time of the raid
Tim, 36, who shared video footage he took of the SWAT vehicle with DailyMail.com, said: ‘We heard a truck, we thought it was like a fire truck and then we looked up and saw an armored vehicle. Then we heard them shouting at the house through a loudspeaker, asking somebody to come out, I think it was the wife.
Santino Legan, 19, ( in a yearbook photo) was identified as the gunman who opened fire on crowds at Sunday’s festival. He was shot dead by police within seconds of when he began firing an AK-47 he legally purchased in Nevada on July 9
‘She came out right away with her arms up and they had her walk backwards towards them, kind of shuffle over to them and then they told her to get down on her knees and they handcuffed her there.
‘They were really gentle with her and she complied to everything they said. They put her in handcuffs and then they shouted at the house for probably three minutes, just saying: ‘This is Salinas PD, we have the house surrounded, come out with your hands up’.
‘It was pretty shocking.’
The cops repeated the request for two or three minutes and when no one else appeared they went inside and were searching it throughout the night.
‘After a while we saw a couple of police officers come out but probably a dozen went in there,’ Tim said.
The cops questioned Mrs. Legan in a police car parked outside for about 30 minutes before escorting her back in.
Tim said: ‘Eventually they let her back in, it looks like she was still handcuffed but they let her back into the house.
‘It was about midnight the armored truck left. They took her back into the house before the truck left.’
The couple think Tom Legan, the shooter’s father, may have been out looking for his son and that the parents may not have yet have known the teenager was dead and had carried out the massacre.
The shooting happened at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday at around 6pm local time. The house searched nearby is less than two miles away
Legan, pictured in his senior year Class of 2017 Gilroy High School yearbook, is circled in the fourth row from back and with a serious demeanor
In each of Legan’s senior photos he refuses to crack a smile and instead appears deadpanned
Another yearbook photo shows the dead shooter working on laptops in the classroom
The teen was shot dead after killing three. It’s not clear if his parents already knew he was dead when the police came to search their home
Natalie, 30, said: ‘It was just super shocking. It was pretty crazy to see on this little street.
‘When I saw her walk out, I didn’t recognize her until she walked forward.
‘She was walking super slow, hesitant. She was dressed, in a white blouse. I just heard them say to her, ‘back up, come out of the gate backwards, hands up’ and when she got there they made her kneel down.
‘It was dark I had no idea if Tom (the shooter’s dad) was there or his Tesla. I also heard that he could possibly have been looking for his son, I know they had that reunification center. I couldn’t hear what the women was saying, at that point I’m sure she didn’t really know what was going on, she might not even have known that her son was dead. So Tom could have been out looking for him somewhere.
‘They had her separated from the house for a long time while they searched the house, then they escorted her back in.’
The teenager shared a photograph from the festival before he opened fire mocking the ‘overpriced s**t’ being sold
Police are seen standing over a person believed to be Legan, shot dead in the confrontation
Attendees are escorted out of the festival under armed police guard after the shooting
At the time the neighbors were baffled at what the police wanted with the middle-aged mother.
Natalie said: ‘They were saying Salinas SWAT, so I thought maybe it was gang related, I didn’t know it was part of the garlic festival.
‘We would never have expected it. When that happened I still didn’t think their son did it, when I saw them arrest the woman I was thinking ‘why would she have anything to do with it, looks like she was hanging out at home?’ It wasn’t until I processed what was happening I realized.
‘I was a little surprised there was no notifications to peoples’ phones, saying stay inside.’
Like most of the neighbors on the quiet cul-de-sac, Natalie did not know a lot about the shooter and his three brothers.
She said: ‘I remember when they were little and they were kids. I never really spoke a lot to the mom, she was hardly ever outside but Tom, the husband, was always outside I would see him talking to other neighbors and mingling. They also seemed really nice, I remember when he was starting up the boxing ring.
Thirteen-year-old Keyla Salazar, of San Jose (left), from San Jose, and 25-year-old Trevor Irby (right), a college graduate from Romulus, New York, were shot and killed dead during the festival
Six-year-old Stephen Romero was also shot and killed dead during the festival
‘They kept to themselves, I couldn’t even describe the son. I would see Tom running a lot, and maybe saw him running with his son a couple of times. I never talked to him (Santino),’ she added.
Natalie and Tim attend the garlic festival every year, usually on Sunday afternoon, but didn’t go this year.
She said: ‘That time on Sunday is perfect the crowds are winding down, you get extra food because they’re just getting rid of it, that’s the best time to be there and when we’re usually there, so it’s really heartbreaking to think of people’s memories now are running… it must have been terrifying. It’s so sad.’
Mr. Legan returned to the house briefly on Monday morning to pick up his blue Tesla, with what was believed to be another one of his sons.
DailyMail.com also spotted him later in the morning, with his wife in the front seat, while they dropped off their son to pick up a dark grey Toyota Corolla parked around the corner from the house. The couple declined to comment.
Tim said he had heard the family had left with some luggage on Monday.