Gorge death under investigation as controlled substance homicide

MOSES LAKE — The death of an Olympia man at the Gorge Amphitheater over the weekend is being investigated as a controlled substance homicide. A Seattle man was arrested on controlled substance distribution charges in connection with the case.

Quincy Travers, 28, was booked into the Grant County Jail on suspicion of one count of delivery of a controlled substance and three counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, said Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, in a media release. Travers was identified by witnesses as the man who sold the victim the drugs, Foreman said.

“Cocaine was the drug,” Foreman told the Columbia Basin Herald in a separate interview. “Whether the dose, or amount, he was using was too strong or whether he used too much, I don’t know.”

The 27-year-old victim got sick after consuming the drugs, Foreman said, was taken to the amphitheater’s medical facility and died there. Detectives were informed of the death and talked to victim’s friends, who detailed the circumstances. Detectives with the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team identified Travers as a suspect, Foreman said.

“INET detectives then conducted an undercover operation targeting Travers and purchased suspected illegal drugs from him,” Foreman said.

Travers was arrested after the transaction. He was charged with separate counts for each of the drugs allegedly in his possession, which included cocaine, ketamine and MDMA, Foreman said.

The Grant County Coroner's Office will conduct an autopsy this week.

At least 10 people had been arrested on suspicion of possession or intent to deliver controlled substances as of Saturday morning, according to the roster from the Grant County Jail. 

“There was a lot of drug activity, a lot of drug traffickers, and that’s why INET, at the request of Live Nation, goes to these concerts, to stop the trafficking of illegal drugs,” Foreman said. 

Even the likelihood of a substantial law enforcement presence at a concert isn’t always a deterrent.

“They’re drug dealers and drug traffickers. They’re part of a business, and that business generates revenue, and that’s their whole purpose. They’re professional drug dealers. They do it for a living,” Foreman said.

Most of the drugs flowing into Grant County have their origin in Mexico, Foreman said, and when it comes to controlled substances, it’s buyer beware.

“The thing is, you can’t rely on the quality of the product. It could be made in a bathtub out in the middle of the jungle somewhere. It’s certainly not under the safest of conditions that these are made, so it’s a risk every time you take one of these drugs because you don’t know what’s inside of it,” Foreman said.