Caylee Hammack Covers ‘Dear Hate’ Following Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting [WATCH]
Rising singer-songwriter Caylee Hammack was among the country artists who played the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California on Sunday afternoon (July 28), just a few hours before a gunman opened fire at the open-air food festival, killing three people and injuring several others. On Monday (July 29), the artist used social media to reflect on the tragedy, and share a tribute of sorts to the victims and those affected.
"I just want to connect with all the people who spent their afternoon with me yesterday at the festival and know that they are okay. I laid on my friend's couch last night and replayed the day over and over in my head, trying to see if any of the faces I see now on the news were in the crowd at my show yesterday," Hammack writes. "What if someone was at that festival just to see me? What if I'm the reason they were at risk? This thought makes me feel sick and keeps sleep at bay."
Hammack's Instagram post includes video of her covering Maren Morris and Vince Gill's song "Dear Hate." Morris co-wrote the song with Tom Douglas and David Hodges and released the studio version of the track, which features Gill, following a similar gun-related tragedy, the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting.
"This morning, [this song] came on my playlist shuffle and stopped me in my tracks," Hammack explains. "I can't seem to sing this whole song without crying today, but know I'm sending you this with all of my love and prayers to you, Gilroy."
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Hammack, Texas-based country duo Waterloo Revival, King Calaway and local country artist McKenna Faith all performed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday. Shortly after the shooting, which took place around 5:30PM local time, they all used social media to confirm that they were safe.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival takes place at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, Calif., which is located about 30 miles south of San Jose. The for-charity event has been running since 1979 and is one of the largest food festivals in the United States; the festival's third and final day was wrapping up when 19-year-old Santino William Legan opened fire on the crowd.
Three people -- 6-year-old Stephen Luciano Romero, a 13-year-old female and a male in his 20s -- were killed in the Sunday evening shooting. In addition, 12 people were injured; Romero's paternal grandmother told news sources that the young boy's mother and maternal grandmother are among the injured. The gunman was also killed by police after he fired on three officers.
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