3 killed, 4 wounded in shooting near Seattle’s Space Needle, officials 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.

Seattle Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis told a late night press conference the incident involved two people they believe were shooting at each other — one was taken into custody and the other was still on the loose, but they didn’t think there was an ongoing threat to the public.

Davis said officers working in the area rushed in and confronted one shooter, which kept more people from being wounded. Two guns were recovered, he added.

Davis said seven people were shot in all. CPR on two wasn’t successful and they were pronounced dead at the scene and a third, a 56-year-old woman, later died at Harborview Medical Center. The hospital had said earlier that she was in surgery.

A two-year-old boy, 39-year-old woman and 23-year-old man 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 but showed up later at the University of Washington Medical Center.

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 gunfire rang out.

Several witnesses told CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO-TV 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.”