Following a shooting on Saturday night at a campground at a music festival in Washington, two fatalities and three injuries have been reported.
At the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, on Saturday and Sunday, the Beyond Wonderland festival will feature performances by Blossom, Testpilot, Afrojack, and Adventure Club.
Around 8:25 p.m. local time on Saturday, there were early reports of an active shooter at the campground nearby in Washington State, where many of the event’s approximately 27,000 guests stay.
At 9:19pm, the shooter was reported as in police custody at the scene, which is around a 30-minute walk from the main festival venue.
‘Officers pursed, closed-in on the suspect, and have the suspect in custody. Multiple individuals have suffered gunshot wounds,’ Grant County Sheriff’s Office stated in a Facebook post about 10:50pm.
The sheriff’s office later confirmed the two deaths and three people injured – among them the shooter – at a press conference at 11:30pm.
The suspect was said to have opened fire at about 8:20 pm in an area around 100 yards from the venue, Kyle Foreman, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said during a press briefing according to ABC News.
After the alleged shooter ‘walked away’, law enforcement officials arrived and tracked them down.
Foreman stated that the suspect ‘continued to shoot randomly into the crowd’ before being taken into custody.
Beyond Wonderland continued as slated, with the festival tweeting a statement to guests, which read: ‘Please avoid the Gorge Gate H campgrounds area as it is closed due to an incident that has been handled by local authorities. There is no current danger to festival goers or the campgrounds.
‘Our team is actively collecting more information, and we will promptly provide further updates as they become available. We genuinely appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter.’
A later update on the Grant County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page read: ‘Due to the need to conduct interviews, gather data/evidence regarding the incident, and process the scene there are no additional details to release at this time. We ask that everyone be respectful of victims and their families as we work through these investigations.
‘Updates will be provided in this post as they are available. Due to the volume of questions, we will survey the questions posted and answer them collectively in future updates rather than address them individually.’
The most recent statement, which came at 2:10am local time on Sunday morning, read: ‘Concert staff will be handling the care and assistance for those campers who are displaced by the crime scene.
‘Information about shooting victims will not be available until the on-site investigation is complete, and the victims’ families have been notified. Information about the shooter will also not be available pending investigation.’