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At least three people were killed and several more were injured in a shooting at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, on Sunday afternoon, a city councilman said.

The councilman, Dion Bracco, said three people had been killed and 12 had been injured in Gilroy, which is about 30 miles southeast of San Jose. He did not know whether the number of injured victims included the three fatalities.

The number of victims could not immediately be confirmed by the police.

Bracco added that one suspect was in custody.

“They don’t know if there were more, so they have to treat it as an active situation,” he said. “We have police out here from as far away as San Jose.”

The shooting took place during the Gilroy Garlic Festival, an annual three-day event held at Christmas Hill Park. The food selections revolve around garlic because Gilroy is a major producer.

“I will say how heartbreaking and tragic this is for all of us,” said Marie Blankley, the mayor pro tempore, who is a lifelong Gilroy resident.

“This is nothing short of horrific,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Twitter. “Tonight, CA stands with the Gilroy community.”

Videos posted on social media showed attendees running past white tents in a grassy field, apparently fleeing the sound of gunshots. People had been told to gather at Gavilan College, a community college on the outskirts of the city.

“The hearts of Gilroy PD and entire community go out to the victims of today’s shooting at the Garlic Festival,” the police said in a tweet Sunday evening. “The scene is still active.”

The police did not immediately respond to requests for additional information. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies were assisting the Gilroy police.

Olivia Chiu, 24, a festival attendee from San Francisco, said she and her boyfriend were visiting when they heard gunshots around 5:30 pm. She said the shots seemed to come from a central area near food and merchandise vendors.

“We saw people running after hearing a few gunshots fired,” she said. “Then we followed suit.”

She said she and several others ran out of the park and into a nearby neighbourhood, where they knocked on doors in search of shelter. “Everyone was in a state of panic and trying to escape out of the festival to a safer area,” she said.

Gilroy, which has about 60,000 people, is home to agricultural workers as well as people who commute to nearby technology jobs. “It is both a rural community and, at the same time, a larger community at the southern tip of Silicon Valley,” said Peter Leroe-Munoz, a city councilman.

Leroe-Munoz added that he had volunteered at a booth at the garlic festival and was horrified to learn that the shooting had taken place at the city’s prime event.

“That is our crown jewel in terms of our cultural identity,” he said. “For this kind of tragedy to take place at something so core to our community, it is a tragedy beyond words.”