USA Washington Seattle Center Shooting
A USA mass shooting left two people dead and at least five wounded, including a toddler, Sunday evening at Seattle Center.
A barrage of gunshots rang out around 6 p.m. at USA Seattle Center, where thousands of people had gathered for the Bite of Seattle USA food festival this weekend. Witnesses described a chaotic scene, with masses of attendees running and taking cover all over the 74-acre park USA complex.
USA Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, in a statement Sunday night, said one person was taken into custody. An earlier USA statement said two people were detained. Police had not released information about whether suspects remained at large. No apparent motive for the shooting was disclosed Sunday.A U
SA Seattle Times USA reporter who was on the south side of Climate Pledge Arena heard USA 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 USA 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 USA scene later to take photos and sawUSA gunshot victims on the ground, including a body covered with a yellow sheet.
“Shooting! Shooting!” a man says.
“Get down, get down, get down,” another yells, as USA 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. A woman, 40, 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.
Kayla Carris, 22, 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 in 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 it would be closing 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 USA Center 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 kid fell down and dropped his bag. Hutchinson helped him up. Based on the sound of gunfire it was “incredibly close” to the USA 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, remained on partial lockdown until about 9 p.m., 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. USA 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.
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. He appeared conscious and was not crying.
“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 USA 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.”Moriah Rochlinski-Evans, a witness, echoed other accounts. She was behind some food stalls when she heard “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 the 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.”
The Seattle Fire Department said it responded to reports of a shooting just after 6 p.m. at the Seattle Center, which was hosting the annual Bite of Seattle, a three-day festival with thousands expected in attendance.
Two people were declared dead at the scene and four others, the youngest of which was 2-years-old, were transported to a hospital, the department said in a statement. One woman declined going to the hospital, fire officials said.
One suspect was taken into custody by Seattle police, Mayor Katie Wilson said in a statement. Wilson had earlier said two people were in custody, but she later updated her statement.
The shooting is one of at least 271 mass shootings in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are shot.
Harborview Medical Center said all patients suffered gunshot wounds and one woman is in critical condition. The range of injuries for the four patients involve the arm, leg, abdomen and lower leg, the hospital said.
The Seattle Center describes itself as a civic, arts and family grounds space that attracts over 12 million visitors each year for events across its 74-acre campus, which includes the Space Needle and the city’s largest arena. The Bite of Seattle Festival features hundreds of local vendors and live music performances, drawing 350,000 guests over three days, its website says.
Some people appeared to take shelter in the gift shop of the Space Needle at the Seattle Center, video shared with CNN showed.
Police, emergency responders and officers from several agencies, including the FBI, were at the scene afterwards, video showed. A Washington state SWAT team was also on its way to assist at the request of Seattle police, Gov. Bob Ferguson said.
CNN has reached out to Seattle police and city officials, as well as the Seattle Center, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The mayor called the shooting “an act of horrific violence” and said the community “is trying to understand how a gathering built around culture, connection, and joy ended in gunfire.”
“In the days ahead, we will establish what happened and be transparent with the public about what we have learned,” Wilson wrote. “Tonight, our attention belongs to the people whose lives were taken, those fighting to recover, and the families beside them.”
Ferguson said he was receiving briefings on the shooting and urged people to continue avoiding the area.
Posted on 2026/07/27 10:42 AM