Key takeaways:
- NBC News reported that two people were killed and five others were injured in the Seattle Center shooting.
- Seattle police said there were “multiple shooting victims” and told people to avoid the area while officers investigated.
- The shooting occurred as the Bite of Seattle food festival was wrapping up its three-day event at Seattle Center.
Two people were killed and five others were injured Sunday night when gunfire broke out at Seattle Center, the civic complex near the Space Needle that was hosting the final night of the Bite of Seattle food festival, NBC News reported.
Seattle police said on X that officers were investigating a shooting with “multiple shooting victims” and that shots had been fired at Seattle Center. The department told the public to avoid the area while detectives and officers worked to determine what happened.
Police did not immediately provide details on the victims’ conditions, identify a shooter or say whether any suspects were in custody. A spokesperson for Harborview Medical Center, the region’s highest-level trauma center, told NBC News the hospital expected to receive patients from the shooting, but did not yet have the number of patients or their conditions.
The shooting happened as crowds gathered at Seattle Center, a major tourist and civic destination that includes the Space Needle and Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Seattle Kraken and Seattle Storm. The center also includes core structures built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, including the Coliseum, the Seattle Center Monorail and the Space Needle.
The Bite of Seattle food festival was wrapping up its annual three-day event Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether the festival was involved in the shooting, and the event did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Witnesses described confusion and panic as shots rang out and crowds surged away from the area.
Esten Wakonabo told NBC affiliate KING-TV that he was waiting in line with his girlfriend for a photo booth when people around them suddenly began running.
“It was a stampede,” he said.
Wakonabo said that soon after, he saw people on the ground, some with visible gunshot wounds. “There’s bodies everywhere,” he said of those who appeared to be injured. “I mean, I counted eight.”
Paul Skinner, who was helping operate a Bite of Seattle booth serving food from a truck called Crave, told KING-TV that the first sounds resembled fireworks.
“We just heard what at first sounded like firecrackers, but it’s just a little too crowded for that kind of thing,” Skinner said. “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.”
Other witnesses gave similar accounts to CBS affiliate KIRO-TV. Nick Bate said, “At first, thought there were fireworks, and then everybody flooded and ran past us.”
Leanne Coles told KIRO-TV that people began running and she followed the crowd. “Everybody started running, and so we just ran too, and we ran through the garden and we ducked and we decided to keep running with the crowd until we got- I looked up for the Space Needle to try to keep track of where we were. It was really scary.”
KIRO-TV reporter Heather Bosch said she saw at least one person receiving CPR.
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