Two Dead And Three Injured In Shooting At US Festival Beyond Wonderland

A music festival in the US ended in disaster on Saturday night (June 17) when a shooting resulted in two deaths and a further three injuries.

As reported by NBC and ABC, the EDM festival Beyond Wonderland took place on Saturday at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, Washington; it was scheduled to continue yesterday (June 18), however the second day was cancelled following the shooting incident.

It’s said the shooting took place in the festival’s campground area sometime around 8:20pm, when the alleged shooter fired “randomly into the crowd”. A statement given by Kyle Foreman – a public information officer with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office – claimed that the unnamed suspect “then walked away from where the incident happened” before continuing to fire aimlessly at concertgoers. 

“The suspect was eventually taken into custody,” Foreman noted, confirming that two concertgoers were killed and three more – one of whom being the suspect – were injured. He added, “We don’t know what the motives were or what the intentions were of the shooter and we’ll have to wait and see if we can find that information out later on.”

At the time of writing, it’s unknown what weapon the shooter used, or any details about themself or any of their victims. 

On Saturday night, the festival’s Twitter account shared a message imploring punters to “avoid the Gorge Gate H campgrounds area”, vaguely explaining that it was closed “due to an incident that has been handled by local authorities”. The tweet assured concertgoers that there was “no current danger to [them] or the campgrounds”, and soon thereafter noted: “Our team is actively collecting more information, and we will promptly provide further updates as they become available. We genuinely appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter.”

Our team is actively collecting more information, and we will promptly provide further updates as they become available. We genuinely appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter.

— Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge (@BeyondWlandPNW) June 18, 2023

Following this, an official statement was released to confirm that day two of Beyond Wonderland had been cancelled. It read: “Due to the incident that took place in the overflow camping area last night, we regret to inform you that day two of Beyond Wonderland at the Gorge has been cancelled.

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

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— Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge (@BeyondWlandPNW) June 18, 2023