BREAKING: Two dead, at least five injured in Seattle Center shooting, fire officials say
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Two people were killed and at least five others were injured in a shooting at Seattle Center on Sunday night as the civic center complex hosted a major food festival.
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Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Grace Nuñez said that its first responders attempted lifesaving efforts for two patients but were unsuccessful.
The others were described as a 2-year-old boy; three women, ages 39, 40 and 56; and a 23-year-old man. The 56-year-old woman was said to be in serious condition and the 40-year-old woman had minor injuries and declined to be transported to the hospital. The rest of the patients were stabilized at University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center, the region’s highest-level trauma center.
Nuñez said the patients’ ages were approximate.
Speaking on X, the Seattle Police Department asked members of the public to stay away as detectives and officers try to determine what happened.
The Bite of Seattle food festival was wrapping up its annual event Sunday, the final of its three days. It wasn’t clear whether the event was involved in the shooting. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Esten Wakonabo was waiting in line with his girlfriend for a photo booth when people around them started running furiously, he told NBC affiliate KING TV of Seattle.
“It was a stampede,” he said.
Not long afterward, Wakonabo said, he noticed people on the ground, some with obvious gunshot wounds.
“There’s bodies everywhere,” he said of those on the ground who appeared to be injured. “I mean, I counted eight.”
Paul Skinner was helping to operate a Bite of Seattle booth when chaos erupted, he said.
“We just heard what at first sounded like firecrackers, but it’s just a little too crowded for that kind of thing,” he told KING. “So then, when the crowd started moving quickly in herds, you knew it was something was happening.”
He added, “We all got down and took cover.”
The civic center complex that grew into the Seattle Center included core structures erected for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, including the Coliseum, the Seattle Center Monorail and the Space Needle.
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
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