UPDATED: Active shooter arrested at Gorge Amphitheater

GEORGE – An evening shooting at The Gorge Amphitheatre campground near George has left two victims dead and three people, including the shooter, injured, according to Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman.

“At about 8:20 p.m. or thereabouts, there was a shooting in the campground. The shooter was fleeing the scene and also firing shots,” Foreman said.

Concertgoers were camped out to attend Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge, a two-day, adults-only show at the venue which features a variety of electronic dance music – or EDM – artists. The shooter’s motives are unknown at this time, Foreman said though he appeared to be shooting randomly into the crowd of campers a few hundred meters from the concert itself, which continued on as the shooting unfolded.

There was a report of shots fired at people in the crowd, which prompted a law enforcement response, he said. The shooter fled and continued shooting in what appeared to be a random pattern. No information regarding the types of weapons used by the shooter was available as yet and investigators are still trying to determine the shooter’s motives.

Under Washington law, information regarding the shooting is limited, Foreman said.

“Now, in Washington state, we have some laws that prevent me from expanding more on details,” Foreman said. “I’m not trying to be evasive; it’s just that I’m limited to what I can speak about in Washington state.”

A mass notification was sent countywide to encourage county residents to stay away from the scene, he said. One such notice advised those present to run, hide and fight as appropriate.

Ages and names of the victims and the shooter could not be released for similar reasons, he said.

The Office of Independent Investigations was initially reported as the agency that will investigate the incident due to an officer-involved shooting being a part of the situation. However, an email from OII representative Hector Castro indicated that the agency is not yet in operation and the North Central Washington Special Investigations Unit will handle the investigation.

OII is a state-level organization created by the Washington State Legislature in 2021 to conduct unbiased investigations of cases that involve police use of deadly force, according to the OII website, oii.wa.gov.

The NCWSI – https://www.ncwsiu.com/ – is a similar organization that is already in operation.

“North Central Washington Special Investigation Unit is the independent investigative entity for the shooting at the Gorge Amphitheater and the entity that will handle news media regarding Saturday’s officer-involved shooting. Since GCSO has members who were part of the response last night, we cannot comment further due to Washington state police reform laws,” a Sunday morning GCSO statement said.

A statement from MACC 911, Grant County’s Multiagency Communications Center, indicated that additional dispatchers were called in to help manage the incident.

“A huge shout out to everyone that worked through the incident last night. You did an amazing job. We know that we are equipped to handle these types of situations, but you always hope that you never have to call on those skills. Last night proved that we have what it takes to get the job done when it counts the most,” the statement read.

An update from the Grant County Sheriff’s Department at about 3:20 p.m. on Sunday indicated that notifications had been made to the families of all the victims in the incident and that identities would be released in the next few days.

Attempts to contact event organizers at The Gorge were not initially successful because the number listed on the venue’s website appeared to be out of service Saturday evening. The venue also had not posted any information about the incident to their social media channels as of press time.

An early-morning statement posted Sunday to the Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge Facebook page indicates that the incident occurred in the overflow camping area and the performances scheduled for the second day – Sunday – of the event had been canceled.

“We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the local authorities and staff who acted quickly to manage the situation,” the Beyond Wonderland statement read. “Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences go out to the family, friends and all those affected by this tragic event.”

Editor's Note: This story has been updated throughout with the most recently available information as of 6:30 p.m. on June 18. The investigation will take some time to complete and we will continue to work with law enforcement to keep the public informed as new information becomes available. Our condolences go out to the families of those killed or injured in this incident.