Family-Friendly Festival Turns Into Horrific Nightmare As Gunmen Open Fire

Three people were killed and four more were wounded when at least two gunmen opened fire at a bustling food festival beneath the Space Needle in Seattle on Sunday.

Shots rang out at around 6:00 p.m. PT at the Bite of Seattle food festival, an annual free weekend-long event that typically attracts 350,000 people. When police arrived on the scene, two people were seen shooting at each other and officers immediately sought to chase down the suspects while other officers provided first aid to the wounded, according to the Seattle Police Department, ABC News reported.

One of the suspects was found and taken into custody on Sunday evening, but police are still searching for the other suspect as of Monday morning. It remains unclear if the gunmen were only targeting each other or if they purposely fired at other festival attendees.

While one suspect remains on the loose, Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis said at a press conference on Sunday night that there is no ongoing threat to the community. Police recovered two weapons at the scene of the shooting.

In a press conference on Sunday night, leftist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson opened the briefing to discuss “gun violence” and argue that the city and the country have “a lot of work to do … to make this better.” As the mayor lectured about “gun violence,” a reporter cut in, saying, “I get your passion, mayor, but we need to know what happened tonight, please.”

The mayor then turned the press conference over to the assistant police chief to go through the details of the shooting.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third person died later at the hospital, according to Davis. Those killed were a 19-year-old man, a 44-year-old man, and a 56-year-old woman. A 2-year-old boy was among the four people wounded and is in stable condition in an area hospital. Michael Girardi, a man who witnessed the shooting, told The Seattle Times that the toddler’s mother was “in anguish” as her son was being treated by paramedics. The young boy appeared to be conscious and wasn’t crying, according to Girardi.

A 23-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman are also in stable condition, while a 40-year-old woman with minor injuries declined to be transported to a hospital.

“Thankfully, we had officers on the scene that were brave, went to those shots, and prevented more victims from being injured,” Davis said.

Estan Wakonabo told the Associated Press that he and his girlfriend were waiting in line for a photo booth at the festival when he was pushed in the back and turned around to see chaos.

“People were hiding, were pushing, people were falling on the ground, baby strollers were falling,” Wakonabo said.