EXCLUSIVE: 12-year-old victim describes being shot, hiding during Gilroy Garlic Festival
GILROY, Calif. -- We are learning more about the victims injured during the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Only on ABC, we spoke to 12-year-old Leslie Andres, who was shot in the leg and kept running.
Governor Gavin Newsom visited Leslie Andres last week and today she spoke about how she's recovering.
RELATED: Dramatic 911 calls show panic in moments after Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting
Step by step, Leslie Andres is walking, but that doesn't mean she has recovered.
"When I walk it hurts, where I got shot," said Andres while touching her wounded leg.
Andres plays back forth those 10 minutes prior to the shooting captured by her mom in a photo.
"We were eating popcorn. We heard this big shot and we were confused about what it was. We were looking around and we saw the man shooting and we got scared and I ran away," said Andres.
The Andres family was across from where the shooting began. Leslie ran away from the gunshots and stopped when she saw her cousins.. She says her cousins helped her jump over a fence and they hid quietly.
"When I was like 'what was that?' and then I touched myself, and then there was blood in my hands and I told my cousins 'I got shot'," described Andres.
Her parents hid under the festivals benches while praying quietly as the shooter approached them.
"The third magazine he loaded was going directed to us because we were right across to him. In that moment the police stopped him," said Leslie's dad Ricardo Andres.
Once the shooter was down, Ricardo Andres was up. He began to run towards the fences to look for his daughter. He found her minutes later, crying out for help.
Laura Rodriguez was hiding with her husband during the shooting. She remembers seeing her daughter bleeding and feeling helpless.
"My husband jumped the fence to get her. I started screaming and crying when I saw my daughter. I told her everything would be okay and not to worry."
Now, there's no bullet in her leg. But that doesn't mean there's no remnants of what it did to her.
Gov. Gavin Newsom visited Leslie at the hospital and a week later she wants answers.
"Like why would they come to a festival?" she asked. "He shot more people and they had no idea."
The Andres family was at the festival with 23 other family members. No one else was injured. That's why now they count their blessings. Laura Rodriguez says she hugs her daughters more and hopes to combat hate with more love.
"I hug and kiss them both. Also, before we go to bed I tell them how much we love them. We thank God for being together," said Rodriguez.
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with medical expenses.
Get the latest on the deadly Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting here.
