Mother of Gilroy Shooting Victim Asks Community for Help with Medical Bills
By Ryan General
When 19-year-old Santino William Legan opened fire at attendees of the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California on Sunday, he killed three people and injured at least 12 others.
Among the surviving victims is a young woman named Brynn, who was rushed to the ICU with a bullet lodged in her liver.
As she is uninsured, her mother Victoria Ota has set up a GoFundMe page on her behalf to assist her in paying for her medical bills.
“Our daughter was shot in the back yesterday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting and is in the trauma ICU. She is uninsured and has already been approached about how she is going to pay for her care. She won’t be able to work for at least a month and will be facing financial problems soon in addition to having a bullet lodged in her liver. At the request of our daughter and the hospital staff, we have been asked to keep her details anonymous.
As of this writing, the campaign has so far reached $28,912 of its $40,000 goal.
In a recent update, Ota shared that Brynn is set to be discharged on Thursday and explained why they lowered their GoFund Me goal.
“We found out yesterday that her medical costs will be reduced by quite a bit which is why we lowered our GoFundMe goal,” she wrote. “Our sincere thanks to all who have contributed to this fund to ease our daughter’s financial stresses. We’re just so impressed by the kindness of our friends, family, and complete strangers. Words cannot express our gratitude.”
While officials have not released the names of all the victims, reports have confirmed the deaths of 13-year-old Keyla Salazar, 25-year-old Trevor Irby, and 6-year-old Stephen Romero.
Legan, who used an SKS/AK-47 type assault rifle in the gruesome attack, was reportedly killed by police officers in a shootout, reports CNN. Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting.
Featured image via GoFundMe / Victoria Ota
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