Shootout at Seattle food festival kills 3; police arrest suspect and search for another

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.

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One gunman surrendered after being 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 had been shot at the civic center complex, which is also 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 morning. Two individuals 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.

A police officer responding to the shooting at the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday. Lindsey Wasson / AP

“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 one patient, a 40-year-old woman with minor injuries, declined to be taken to a hospital.

Davis said the person taken into custody is “a young person,” who was being questioned. That person was the only one officers saw opening fire, he said, noting that police did not discharge 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.”