A tragic incident left Beyond Wonderland Festivalgoers traumatized after a gunman wreaked havoc on the annual festival's second day on Jun. 17, 2023. The Beyond Wonderland Festival Shooting is one of the many mass shooting events that has taken place this year in the United States.
Based on reports, there have been two casualties and three injuries as a result on the Beyond Wonderland Shooting incident. Authorities have been investigating the crime scene since the incident took place on Saturday.
Beyond Wonderland Shooting
According to a Billboard report, the Day 2 of Beyond Wonderland Festival was canceled after a gunman had a killing spree at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington, on Jun. 17, 2023, the festival's first day.
The Grant County Sherriff's Office said that the incident took place at around 8:30 in the evening of June 17 at the camping area of the highly-attended dance festival. A sole gunman randomly fired into the crowd. Instantly, two people were fatally shot, and three people were already injured.
Fortunately, the gunman was immediately apprehended before it could cause more casualties and injured.
"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," Grant County Sheriff's Office Kyle Foreman said in a statement as quoted by NBC.
As of this writing, the name of the gunman or the victims' names have not yet been publicly released.
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Beyond Wonderland: Shooter Wanted To Target The Staff?
According to a source close to Fox3 News in Seattle, the Beyond Wonderland shooter wanted to target the staff members of the festival. However, the said angle was not addressed during the press conference.
Because of this traumatizing incident, the Day 2 of the Beyond Wonderland Festival has been canceled. However, it was important to note that the festival still continued its Day 1 despite the incident taking place.
They released a statement addressing the situation.
"We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the local authorities and staff who acted quickly to manage the situation," they wrote. "Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences go out to the family, friends and all those affected by the tragic event."
Around 27,000 people were expected to attend each day for the two-day EDM Music and Dance Festival. Variety noted that a lot of festivalgoers were expected to stay at the campground as the venue was quite far from hotels and a three-hour drive from the nearest cities in Washington.
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