Police search for second suspect after Seattle food festival shooting kills 3

Police said a shooting tore through the Bite of Seattle food festival at Seattle Center on Sunday night, killing three people and injuring four others, including a toddler, in a crowded public space just below the Space Needle. Officers already on the Seattle Center grounds heard the gunfire and responded rapidly, but the violence had already spread through the festival before the scene could be secured.

Early police accounts said two people exchanged gunfire. One suspect was arrested, and investigators were looking for a second suspect as they worked to sort out who fired first and how the confrontation unfolded among festivalgoers. Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis later said there was no ongoing threat to the public, saying the people involved appeared to have been shooting at each other.

The casualty count changed as the immediate response developed. Initial reports listed two dead and five injured before officials updated the toll to three dead and four injured. Among the wounded were a toddler and another child, and Harborview Medical Center was treating survivors after the attack.

The shooting struck one of Seattle’s biggest summer public gatherings, an annual food festival that filled Seattle Center over the weekend and drew families, visitors and vendors to the shadow of the city’s most recognizable landmark. The location made the attack especially jarring: police said the gunfire erupted near the Space Needle, in an area normally packed with pedestrians and festival traffic.

Seattle police later filed a follow-up post under the heading Gun Violence at Seattle Center Takes Three Lives, while the Office of the Mayor issued a statement from Katie Wilson on the Seattle Center shootings. City officials and police urged the public to stay clear of the area as detectives continued their work at the scene.

The episode put a harsh light on the security challenge posed by large civic festivals, where even a visible police presence on the grounds did not prevent a burst of gunfire from turning a family event into a crime scene.