Music festival continued during shooting to ensure attendees ‘stayed away from’ scene
The organizers of the Beyond Wonderland music festival provided an update on the shooting that left two dead and three injured on Saturday.
The deadly shooting took place at a campsite outside the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington. But concerts continued at the festival inside for the rest of the night.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office posted an active shooter alert for the Amphitheater around 8.30pm, warning festivalgoers to ‘run, hide, or fight’ if they encountered the gunman.
‘Please avoid the Gorge Gate H campgrounds area as it is closed due to an incident that has been handled by local authorities,’ the festival told attendees around 10.00pm. ‘Our team is actively collecting more information, and we will promptly provide further updates as they become available,’ the update reads.
On Sunday, the festival announced that all acts scheduled for that day were officially cancelled.
But festivalgoers were left wondering why the concerts on Saturday night were not cancelled immediately, and why attendees were not evacuated from the venue.
On Monday, Pasquale Rotella, the CEO of festival organizer Insomniac Events provided an update to explain why the event was cancelled immediately.
According to Rotella, the shooting took place at an ‘overflow’ campsite, which was located about half a mile outside of the festival grounds.
The shooting ‘stemmed from an isolated situation that escalated, leading the assailant to flee the area,’ Rotella said. The shooter was eventually detained after an officer-involved shooting outside the campground, which left the assailant injured.
Meanwhile, concerts continued at the Gorge Amphitheater until about 2.00am on Sunday morning.
‘We made the decision to keep the festival open at the request of law enforcement once it became evident there was no ongoing threat to the safety of the attendees,’ Rotella said. ‘This was also done to ensure that the majority of attendees stayed away from the campground area where the incident took place.’
Rotella also thanked the staff, organizers, and performers at the festival for remaining calm while chaos erupted outside. ‘I want to express my gratitude to the artists and staff who remained calm and ensured that the show continued.’
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