3 killed, 4 wounded in shooting near Seattle’s Space Needle, authorities say

Three people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting at a food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle on Sunday evening, police said. A suspect was arrested and another was being sought, they said.

Police told a late night press conference that the incident involved two people shooting at each other and one was taken into custody but the other was still on the loose, according to CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO-TV.

Seattle Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis said officers working in the area rushed in and confronted one shooter, which kept more people from being wounded.

He said seven people were shot in all. Two were pronounced dead at the scene and a third, a woman, later died at Harborview Medical Center. The hospital had said earlier that she was in surgery.

A two-year-old boy, a 39-year-old woman and a 23-year-old boy were also taken to Harborview and were in stable condition, Davis said, adding that a 40-year-old woman with minor injuries didn’t want to go to the hospital.

The shooting occurred around 6 p.m. local time.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Sunday night that several of its agents were at the scene and that Seattle police would lead the investigation. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said the state SWAT team was en route, at the request of Seattle police.

The Seattle Center is a popular tourist location that includes the iconic Space Needle and Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Seattle Kraken and Seattle Storm. The area was filled with people attending the annual Bite of Seattle food festival when the shooting took place.

Several witnesses told KIRO they heard multiple shots before running away. 

“At first, thought there were fireworks, and then everybody flooded and ran past us,” Nick Bate told the station.

Leanne Coles told KIRO, “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.”