15-year-old detained after deadly Seattle food festival shootout

A King County judge ordered a 15-year-old boy held in juvenile detention after a shootout at Seattle Center’s Bite of Seattle food festival killed three people and wounded at least four others, including a toddler. The gunfire broke out near the Space Needle, in the middle of one of Seattle’s largest summer gatherings.

Police and court documents said at least three people opened fire at each other during the Sunday evening shooting. The Seattle Fire Department said responders were dispatched just after 6 p.m., and police said one suspect was in custody while at least one other remained at large. Another suspect was later reported dead at the scene.

The three people killed were later identified as local residents. The victims and the injured were caught in a crowded public space built for families, food vendors and festivalgoers, a setting that made the violence especially jarring for people in the area and for the city’s broader summer event calendar.

The case also underscored how quickly a major civic event can turn into a crime scene when multiple guns enter a dense crowd. Seattle Center, a familiar gathering place at the foot of the Space Needle, became the focus of a juvenile court case, a homicide investigation and questions about how security, supervision and access to firearms failed in a matter of seconds.