Beyond Wonderland Cancels Festival After 2 Dead and 3 Injured in Shooting

Tragedy struck BEyond Wonderland Music Festival when a mass shooting occurred Saturday night leaving 2 dead and 3 in critical condition.

Devastating news shocked the EDM community late last night as news of a mass shooting had occurred at the Beyond Wonderland Music Festival held at The Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State. around 8:30 PM PST, calls were made to local authorities to report an active shooting that left two people killed and three left wounded, one of the three being the shooter.

Reports of the shooting came from the campgrounds of the venue located a few minutes’ walk outside the venue. The shooter, seeming to have shot at random, fired shots into the campgrounds. Witnesses say that the shooter was targeting staff, but that or a motive has yet to be established.

After the shooting, the suspect ran away back into the labyrinth of campsites set up for the two-day Beyond Wonderland festival. Authorities were able to track the shooter down, and they continued to fire shots into the campsite as they were apprehended.

Authorities have not revealed the name of the shooter or the victims. Nor have they released any more detail on the motive or the weapon used in the devastating shooting that rocked the EDM community.

The festival continued on throughout the shooting as many inside the venue were unaware of the chaos and deaths that had taken place just moments before. Little information was provided to festivalgoers from Beyond Wonderland and the promoter, Insomniac, behind the festival production. In addition, security for Beyond Wonderland was headed up by LiveNation, where there was also little communication regarding the incidents that had occurred.

Many attendees found out about the shooting while in the festival, with live reports saying that they were bombarded with texts and calls regarding their safety as there was no announcement other than the tweet below referring to the shootings as an “incident” to explain what had occurred. The campsite the mass shooting occurred remains a live crime scene and the other festival campgrounds will remain open through the weekend so that festivalgoers can have a place to sleep and decompress.

Beyond Wonderland announced late last night that day 2 of the festival will be canceled. This mass shooting raises a strong concern regarding safety at camping festivals, as cars are subject to a quick search, however, there are rarely metal detectors or more intensive searches for guns or weapons.

As gun control and gun reform are divisive subjects in US politics today, it opens the question of how festivals, promoters, and security can do more to keep attendees safe. Just last year at Bass Canyon, a shooting was intercepted and stopped after an anonymous tip before tragedy could strike.

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A post shared by Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge (@beyondwlandpnw)

Our hearts go out to all victims, witnesses, and attendees of the Beyond Wonderland festival as this is a sad day in the EDM community. This very community prides itself on the motto of PLUR, “peace, love, unity, respect,” and hate and violence are not welcome.

Please hug your friends and family today and cherish your rave family. If a GoFundMe is established or created for the victims, we will share that with our readers.