Map locating Gilroy in California. — AFP Photo

LOS ANGELES  — A shooting at a major food festival in the US state of California caused multiple casualties on Sunday, police said.

"The hearts of Gilroy PD and entire community go out to the victims of today's shooting at the Garlic Festival," the local police department tweeted.

NBC News reported that there were at least five victims of the shooting, which took place at one of the largest food festivals in the country, which is held about 30 miles (48 kilometres) southeast of San Jose.

The channel quoted a witness named Julissa Contreras as saying a white man in his 30s carried out the shooting with a rifle.

"I could see him shooting in just every direction. He wasn't aiming at anyone specifically. It was just left to right, right to left," Contreras said, according to NBC.

"Grateful to first responders who are on the scene in Gilroy and keeping those injured by such senseless violence in my thoughts," Senator Kamala Harris, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wrote on Twitter.

Shootings are a frequent occurrence in the United States, but despite the scale of the gun violence problem in the country, efforts to address it legislatively have long been largely deadlocked at the federal level. — AFP