GEORGE – An evening shooting at The Gorge Amphitheatre campground near George has left two victims dead and three people, including the shooter, injured, according to Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman.
“At about 8:20 p.m. or thereabouts, there was a shooting in the campground. The shooter was fleeing the scene and also firing shots,” Foreman said.
Concertgoers were camped out to attend Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge, a two-day, adults only show at the venue which features a variety of electronic dance music – or EDM – artists. The shooter’s motives are unknown at this time, Foreman said though he appeared to be shooting randomly into the crowd of campers a few hundred meters from the concert itself, which continued on as the shooting unfolded.
There was a report of shots fired at people in the crowd, which prompted a law enforcement response, he said. The shooter fled and continued shooting in what appeared to be a random pattern. No information regarding the types of weapons used by the shooter was available as yet and investigators are still trying to determine the shooter’s motives.
Under Washington law, information regarding the shooting is limited, Foreman said.
“Now, in Washington state, we have some laws that prevent me from expanding more on details,” Foreman said. “I’m not trying to be evasive; it’s just that I’m limited to what I can speak about in Washington state.”
Ages and names for the victims and the shooter could not be released for similar reasons, he said.
A mass notification was sent countywide to encourage county residents to stay away from the scene, he said. One such notice advised those present to run, hide and fight as appropriate.
The Office of Independent Investigations, a state-level organization created by the Washington State Legislature in 2021 to conduct unbiased investigations of cases that involve police use of deadly force, according to the OII website, oii.wa.gov.
Attempts to contact event organizers at The Gorge were not successful because the number listed on the venue’s website appeared to be out of service Saturday evening. The venue also had not posted any information about the incident to their social media channels as of press time. The Columbia Basin Herald will continue to reach out to them to obtain information from event organizers.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated throughout with the most recently available information. The investigation will take some time to complete and we will continue to work with law enforcement to keep the public informed as new information becomes available. Our condolences go out to the families of those killed or injured in this incident.
herbalhippie on June 18th, 2023 at 06:14 UTC »
I just heard on the scanner now they're looking for the car that dropped the shooter off at the Gorge, a blue car out of Renton I didn't catch all the details.
cedarfellart on June 18th, 2023 at 05:33 UTC »
Used to go to Sasquatch there for years. Such a beautiful venue. As far as the mass shooting, it’s all been said. Senseless. There’s no sense anywhere to be found.
squiderman200 on June 18th, 2023 at 05:00 UTC »
Latest unconfirmed reports count 2 killed, 1 serious wounded, 1 less serious. Still developing. Shooter began in the campground area.
Press conference being held at 2330L. Concert is continuing as planned.
My condolences to those there and victims families. I know it was set to be a very popular event for the area.
For those curious, this is about 100 miles outside of Seattle.
Edit: Location Edit 2: 5 injured confirmed by sheriff Update 3: 4 victims, scumbag injured