Mass shooting at Seattle Center leaves 3 dead, toddler wounded

Get live updates about the Seattle Center shootings here.

A mass shooting left three people dead and four wounded, including a toddler, Sunday evening at Seattle Center.

A barrage of gunshots rang out around 6 p.m. at Seattle Center, where thousands of people had gathered for the Bite of Seattle weekend food festival. Witnesses described a chaotic scene, with masses of attendees running and taking cover all over the 74-acre park complex.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, in a statement Sunday night, said one person had been taken into custody. Another suspected shooter remained at large, Seattle Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis said around 10:50 p.m.

“There may be more,” Davis said. “We’re still trying to figure this out.”

He added that the people appeared to be shooting at each other, and he described the detained person as “young.” Two guns were recovered from the scene. No apparent motive for the shooting was disclosed Sunday.

A Seattle Times reporter who was on the south side of Climate Pledge Arena heard several loud pops and then what sounded like very rapid gunfire.

Festival attendee Estan Wakonabo, 25, said he was at Bite of Seattle with his girlfriend when he heard shots. The event was so packed to begin with that they could barely move between the crowded lines for food. People began to trample each other as he and his girlfriend stayed put.

“It was just pure chaos,” he said.

He said he came back to the scene later to take photos and saw gunshot victims on the ground, including a body covered with a yellow sheet.

A live video from a food vendor appeared to capture the first gunshots.

“Shooting! Shooting!” a man says.

“Get down, get down, get down,” another yells, as crowds start to run.

The Fire Department said aid crews treated five other people at the scene: a 2-year-old boy, a 23-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman and a 56-year-old woman, all of whom were taken to the hospital; and a woman, 40, who suffered minor injuries.

Harborview Medical Center reported all four patients who arrived had suffered gunshot wounds. A hospital spokesperson said the 56-year-old woman was in surgery and in critical condition, while all others were in satisfactory condition.

At the scene, Kayla Carris, 22, said she was sitting outside the Seattle Center Armory when people began to scream and run to get inside the building.

“Everyone was just throwing stuff and running,” Carris said. “Like, everyone.”

Paul Skinner, 47, had just returned from grabbing drinks for his staff at his Filipino food booth.

“I just heard what sounded like what were some pretty loud fireworks at first,” he said. “Then, the energy changed. Mobs of people started flooding back down. I just told our staff to get down.”

Todd Behrends, 59, said he heard several rounds of gunfire. People began running and jumping over each other to get away. One woman fell and someone stepped on her leg, he said. As he also ran toward an exit, he saw a woman on the ground and a man on a stretcher.

Abdul Mohammed said he had been watching “The Odyssey” at the Pacific Science Center IMAX theater when the movie stopped abruptly. Viewers were told to put their hands up and slowly walk out of the theater, he said, and 10 or 15 police officers, weapons drawn, walked into the theater.

A spokesperson for the theater said they were having people exit and that it would be closed for the rest of the day.

Chase Hutchinson, who freelances film and culture stories for The Seattle Times, said he was standing outside the SIFF Film Center, also on the Seattle Center campus, when he heard shots and saw people take off running.

“Immediately I knew what it was,” he said. “It took a second for people to start running. There was this kind of surreal moment of ‘What happened?’ It all happened really, really fast.”

A child fell down and dropped his bag. Hutchinson helped him up. Based on the sound of gunfire it was “incredibly close” to the film center, at the northeast corner of Climate Pledge Arena, next to the International Fountain.

Harborview Medical Center, the highest-level trauma care center in the region, was on partial lockdown for several hours Sunday, with Seattle police officers and police cruisers lining nearby sidewalks. Harborview spokesperson Susan Gregg said the lockdown was a precaution because there was uncertainty about the number of shooters. Family members of victims could still get in: They were admitted by security and escorted to the rooms of their loved ones.

Bite of Seattle, which has taken place at Seattle Center for decades, is one of the campus’ busiest annual events. Last year’s festival drew 282,000 people, according to Seattle Center’s impact report. The event features hundreds of food and retail vendors, as well as live music.

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Michael Girardi was standing by the music stage near Fisher Pavilion when he heard two rounds of pops. He hid with others behind the stage. Girardi saw a toddler who was wounded being treated by paramedics. The child appeared conscious and was not crying, Girardi said.

“The mother (was) in anguish,” he said.

“It was over so quickly,” Girardi said. Surprisingly, folks wandered in the area afterward, he said. Some stayed in line for their food, he said.

Festivals at Seattle Center have seen shootings and violence over the years.

In July 1998, a riot involving around 1,000 people at Bite of Seattle injured two police officers and resulted in three arrests.

In 2006, a 16-year-old boy went to Harborview after reportedly being shot near Seattle Center around the time the Bite of Seattle was closing for the day.

In 2008, a shooting at Folklife Festival injured several people.

In 2012, another shooting left one person injured at Folklife.

After the shooting Sunday, Seattle’s mayor released a statement: “Impacted families are living through the worst moment of their lives, and an entire community is trying to understand how a gathering built around culture, connection, and joy ended in gunfire.”

Seattle police released only one public update in the hours after the shooting, before a news conference began just before 11 p.m.

A U.S. flag on the Space Needle flew at half-staff as Gov. Bob Ferguson, Mayor Wilson and Assistant Police Chief Davis revealed that the death toll had risen to three.

A lingering smell of sweets and barbecue floated through the air, as law enforcement continued to process the scene.

Moriah Rochlinski-Evans, a witness, echoed other accounts. She was behind some food stalls when she heard what she described as “pops.” People stampeded. She hid on the ground behind a bench. Food vendors stuck next to fences were “basically breaking them down” to get out, Rochlinski-Evans said.

Dominique Campbell had driven up to Seattle from Los Angeles to sell his clothing brand “Soup” at Bite of Seattle. He and his sister ducked when they heard gunfire. A woman got down on the ground by their booth. He noticed her leg bleeding from an apparent gunshot.

“I grabbed a T-shirt and wrapped her leg and just put pressure on it,” he said.

Campbell said an officer with a medical kit arrived and taped the shirt around the wound.

“She was in shock, she didn’t know she got shot,” Campbell said. “She kept asking what happened.”

Investigators asked tips to be directed to Seattle police at 206-233-5000.

Seattle Times staff Paige Cornwell, Lauren Frohne, Hannah Furfaro, Sofia Schwarzwalder and Miyoko Wolf contributed to this story.