Democratic White House hopefuls are renewing their calls for gun control following Sunday’s shooting in Gilroy, Calif., that left at least three dead.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who has pledged executive action on gun control if she is elected president, called the shooting at the yearly garlic festival “simply horrific.”
“Our country has a gun violence epidemic that we cannot tolerate,” she tweeted.
{mosads}Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has proposed a national licensing program for guns, called gun violence “out of control.”
“We’re still waiting on all the details from Gilroy, but my heart is already breaking for the victims and their families and the survivors,” he tweeted. “The gun violence epidemic in this country is out of control. Please be safe and take care of one another.”
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro criticized people who lament attacks but don’t defend gun reform.
“Heartbreaking news out of Gilroy, California as another community copes with a mass shooting,” the former San Antonio mayor tweeted. “Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough—we must do more to prevent these tragic attacks.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who have all called for restricting assault weapons, also joined calls for reform following the shooting.
As many as 15 people were injured in Sunday’s shooting.
Gilroy Police Chief Scott Smithee said that gun shots were heard at 5:41 p.m. and officers engaged a shooter, who was killed, in less than a minute.
Police are looking for a possible second suspect, who Smithee said may have been “involved in some way, we just don’t know in what way.”
The tragedy is the worst active-shooter incident since May, when 12 people were killed in Virginia Beach.