Three people were killed and four others were injured in what police believe was a shootout between a pair of gunmen at a major food festival in Seattle on Sunday night.
One gunman surrendered after he was confronted by police, while another shooter was being sought after they fled Seattle Center, which was hosting the Bite of Seattle event, Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis said at a late-night news conference.
“There were two people who we believe were shooting at each other,” Davis said.
Seven people were shot at the civic center complex, which is home to the city’s Space Needle.
The three victims who died were a 19-year-old man, a 44-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman, police said in a statement early Monday. Two people died at the scene, and a third died at the hospital.
Four people who were injured, including a toddler, were taken to Harborview Medical Center, the region’s top-level trauma center, where one of them died, Davis said. Hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg said the victims had injuries including gunshot wounds to an arm, a leg, the abdomen and a lower leg.
Another person arrived later at University of Washington Medical Center with a gunshot wound, Davis said, adding that all the injured had been stabilized.
“The other patients are in satisfactory condition (a pediatric male patient, a 23-year-old male and a 39-year-old female),” Gregg said by email.
Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Grace Nuñez said a 40-year-old woman with minor injuries declined to be taken to a hospital.
Davis said the person taken into custody, who was being questioned, is “a young person.” That person was the only one officers saw opening fire, he said, adding that police did not fire their weapons during the confrontation.
While a second person fled, Davis said, “we believe that we have no outstanding threat to the community.”
Two guns were recovered at the scene, he said.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson called the shooting “an unbelievable tragedy, a horrific act of violence.”
“My heart right now is with the victims and their families and with everyone in our community who is reeling from what happened here today,” she said at the news conference.
In a statement earlier, she thanked first responders, including firefighters, event staff members and bystanders who helped people get to safety, as well as hospital staff members who treated the wounded.
The Seattle office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on X that some of its special agents were at the scene assisting Seattle police with the investigation.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said officials would work to get federal resources.
The food festival was wrapping up its annual event Sunday, the final of its three days.
Estan Wakonabo was waiting in line with his girlfriend for a photo booth when people around them started running furiously, he told NBC affiliate KING of Seattle.
“It was a stampede,” he said.
Not long afterward, Wakonabo said, he noticed people on the ground, some with obvious gunshot wounds.
“There’s bodies everywhere,” he said of those on the ground who appeared to be injured. “I mean, I counted eight.”
Paul Skinner was helping operate a Bite of Seattle booth for the food truck Crave when chaos erupted, he said.
“We just heard what at first sounded like firecrackers, but it’s just a little too crowded for that kind of thing,” he told KING. “So then, when the crowd started moving quickly in herds, you knew it was something was happening.”
He added, “We all got down and took cover.”
Isaiah Flores Sanches described hearing the gunfire.
“It went from something being so playful and so joyful to being something so horrific, and I seen people on the floor trying to take cover,” he told KING.
Bite of Seattle says it draws more than 350,000 people to its annual three-day festival, for which admission is free. “The Bite of Seattle is a very positive event,” Davis said. “We haven’t had any issue in recent years.”
Organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The civic center complex that grew into Seattle Center included core structures erected for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, including the Coliseum, now known as Climate Pledge Arena; the Seattle Center Monorail; and the Space Needle.
