Three people have been killed and at least four others wounded, including a toddler, after an apparent gunfight near the Space Needle landmark in Seattle last night, according to police.
Seattle Police said one suspect had been arrested and they were searching for another following the incident at the Bite of Seattle food festival in a popular tourist district of the northwestern US city.
Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis said shots were heard around 6pm (2am Irish time) and “there were two people who we believe were shooting at each other.” Two weapons were recovered.
There is “no outstanding threat to the community,” he said.
Seattle Police said three people had died.
Police said on X earlier Sunday there were “multiple shooting victims” after shots were fired at the Seattle Center.
Eyewitnesses describe panic during shooting at Seattle food festival
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson said State Patrol SWAT officers had been deployed to assist local police.
“My prayers are with the families of the victims, and the responders as they work to keep people safe,” he said on X.
Mayor Katie Wilson said the shooting was “an act of horrific violence.”
“Our attention belongs to the people whose lives were taken, those fighting to recover, and the families beside them,” she said in a statement.
She also expressed her thanks to “the Seattle police officers who responded to the scene and took a suspect into custody.”
A police officer stands near abandoned vendor booths at the Bite of Seattle food festival
Four patients were being treated at the trauma center facility at Harborview Medical Center, according to spokesperson Susan Gregg: a child, a woman of unknown age who was in surgery, a 23-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman.
Davis said those in the hospital were in a “stable condition.”
Several witnesses told Seattle television station KIRO they heard multiple shots before running away.
“At first, I thought there were fireworks, and then everybody flooded and ran past us,” Nick Bate told the station.
“We started running. I didn’t know. I didn’t look where the person was going. I just heard everything,” a witness told AFP.
The shooting took place during the Bite of Seattle summer festival celebrating local businesses and food vendors.