Three Killed, Four Injured in Shooting at Seattle Food Festival

SEATTLE -Three people were killed and four others, including a child, were injured Sunday evening when gunfire broke out at a food festival at Seattle Center, a block from the city’s Space Needle, authorities said.

Police responded to reports of shots fired just after 6 p.m. at the annual Bite of Seattle, a three-day festival that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors and was in its final day. Two people were declared dead at the scene, the Seattle Fire Department said. Four others were taken to Harborview Medical Center, and a fifth person later arrived at another hospital with a gunshot wound. One of the hospitalized victims subsequently died, Seattle Police Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis said at an evening briefing.

The youngest of the injured was 2 years old, according to the fire department. Harborview said the wounds it treated included injuries to an arm, a leg, the abdomen and a lower leg, and that a 23-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman and a male child were in stable condition. A 40-year-old woman with minor injuries declined to be taken to a hospital.

A suspect in custody, another sought

Davis said one suspect, whom he described as a young person, was taken into custody and was the only individual officers saw opening fire. A second person believed to be involved fled the scene. Even so, Davis said investigators believe there is no outstanding threat to the community, and he noted that officers did not discharge their own weapons. Two firearms were recovered.

Police said they believe the gunfire stemmed from a confrontation between two armed individuals rather than a random attack on the crowd, though the investigation is continuing. Agents from the Seattle field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to assist local authorities.

“Bodies everywhere”

Witnesses described sudden panic as the sound of gunfire cut through the crowded grounds. Estan Wakonabo, who was waiting in line for a photo booth with his girlfriend, told the NBC affiliate KING that people around him began running and that he later saw several people on the ground with apparent gunshot wounds. Paul Skinner, working a food-truck booth, said the initial shots sounded like firecrackers before the crowd surged in fear.

A city grappling with the aftermath

Mayor Katie Wilson called the shooting a horrific act of violence and said her thoughts were with the victims and their families. In a statement, she said impacted families were living through the worst moment of their lives and that a community was struggling to understand how a gathering built around culture and connection ended in gunfire.

Seattle Center describes itself as a civic and arts campus spanning 74 acres that draws more than 12 million visitors a year, including to the Space Needle and the city’s largest arena. The Bite of Seattle features hundreds of local vendors and live music and typically draws roughly 350,000 guests over its three-day run.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, which counts incidents in which four or more people are shot, the festival shooting was among more than 270 mass shootings recorded in the United States so far this year. The investigation remained active late Sunday, and authorities had not released the identities of the victims.