Tasmanian businessman Andrew Davies recalls Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting ordeal

A Tasmanian businessman has recalled his terrifying six-hour ordeal where people were killed around him in the US’s latest deadly shooting. WATCH HIS VIDEO.

A TASMANIAN man caught up in a shooting at a Californian festival has told of the “very frightening” six-hour ordeal which saw him take shelter in a shed while people were killed around him.

Hobart resident Andrew Davies flew to California buzzing with excitement to work at the Gilroy Garden Festival supplying internet at the event through his PopUp Wi-Fi business.

He returned home on Thursday “rattled” by the events that unfolded where four people were killed, including a suspected gunman, and 15 others were injured.

What was supposed to be a productive business trip for the 40-year-old IT professional quickly turned to tragedy as he began to pack up and leave the festival site at the conclusion of the event.

Andrew Davies, of South Hobart, has returned from California where he survived a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Picture: ZAK SIMMONDS

It was about 5pm on Sunday when the shootings started.

Mr Davies said he thought the sound of gunshots were fireworks going off as a way of marking the end of the three-day event.

Physically Mr Davies was unharmed, but mentally he said “there’s no doubt it’s going to leave a lasting impression”.

“I said to the guy next to me ‘maybe they’re just setting off fireworks’. But after seeing this wave of people screaming and running towards me I could tell something serious was happening,” he said.

“A family raced in to the shed I was in and yelled ‘get cover, get cover’ but I didn’t really have anywhere to go. I was cornered.

“I did what everyone else around me did and stood around like a stunned mullet. I don’t know if that was the smartest thing to do, but I felt trapped — it all happened so fast.”

He said he was met with confronting scenes while waiting out the attack.

“About 15m away from where I was I saw one of the bodies get picked up and put in a medical truck,” he said.

“I watched paramedics perform CPR but it was clear she was dead. I spent a lot of time with the guy who picked her up. I remember that scene of his big flat-tray ute ‘horning’ its way through crowds of people to get to the body.”

Police officers escort people out of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Picture: AP/Noah Berger

Mr Davies said the ordeal became worse when he heard police were searching for a possible gunman matching his clothing description.

“Witnesses said there was someone wearing camouflage shorts helping the gunman. That’s what I was wearing. At that point a police officer came into where I was and said ‘you better stay down and don’t go anywhere’,” he said.

Speaking to the Mercury at Hobart Airport on Thursday, an exhausted Mr Davies, who works a fly-in-fly-out job between Hobart and California, said there was no better feeling than arriving home.

“I feel so grateful living here, it’s perfect in the sense that I feel 100 per cent safe — it’s in the back of my mind when I’m in America that I should be a bit more conscious of what’s going on,” he said.

“What happened there was tragic and of course very, very frightening. The shootings occurred at the end of the festival and I was physically drained enough after having five hours’ sleep over three nights.

“It was tough. They kept us in lockdown there so I couldn’t leave when that’s all I wanted to do.

“The next day we were supposed to go back and pack up but I turned to my colleague and said ‘mate, I’m not going back, I’m booking a flight home. I’m out’.

Andrew Davies at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Mr Davies said he was able to communicate online to his family back home to let them know he was safe during the ordeal — a time his fiancee, Nina McMahon, said was extremely stressful.

“I got a message from Andrew during the shootings which said ‘I’m in a shed, I’m OK, there are heaps of cops here’. Then I didn’t hear anything for a few hours which made me bite my fingernails down quite a bit,” she said.

“It was the best sound in the world hearing his voice when he called later. He sounded tired and told me he was OK despite sounding very rattled,” she said.

Police vehicles lined up outside the Gilroy Garlic Festival after the fatal shooting. Picture: ANDREW DAVIES

Following his arrival home, Mr Davies said spending time with family would be his main focus.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing my daughter Mollie and my dad happens to be visiting today which is great. I was glad to see Nina at the airport yesterday,” he said.

Despite finding himself in the middle of the tragic Californian event, Mr Davies said he would return to work at the festival in the future.

“My feelings go out to Gilroy because it’s a family-friendly, multicultural event which pumps a lot of money into the local economy and I can’t imagine what damage the shooting is going to do to the city now,” he said.

“If it runs again we’ll be back. It’s part of our company philosophy to invigorate regional parts of the world and Gilroy is a prime example of the work we like to do.

“I think what happened is another example that America really needs to have a good hard look at its gun laws. It’s probably something that could have been avoided. I wonder how many more people have to be killed before something gets done about it.”