Food vendor's live stream captures terrifying moment festival shooting starts
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: David Ryder/Getty Images
Warning: this article contains video footage and details some may find distressing
A food vendor at Bite of Seattle captured the terrifying moment gunshots rang out at the event, killing three people and injuring at least five more, police confirmed.
Officials initially believed that two suspects, including a 15-year-old who has since been arrested, were shooting at each other at the annual event, which draws in around 350,000 people each year.
However, court documents have revealed that officials believe there may have been a third attacker involved, as reported by the BBC.
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One assailant is thought to have been killed at the scene, with another still being sought out by officers in Seattle as of Tuesday (28 July).
Three people, including one of the suspected attackers, were killed in the food festival shooting, as per Assistant Chief of Seattle Police Tyrone Davis.
King County medical examiners have named these as 19-year-old Junior Cee Niko Semo, Carlos Israel Sanchez Villalba, 44, and Ashley Whitehead, 56.
It’s understood that Cemo may have been the other person involved in the gunfight, as per reports.
At least five others were injured, including a two-year-old child, who was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
One person who was injured in the shooting chose not to seek out medical care, officials stated.
Harborview/UW Medicine spokesperson Susan Gregg said the victims suffered injuries to the arm, abdomen or legs.
Two guns were also recovered at the scene, police confirmed.
Christopher Monterroso, who was manning the Hawaiian Honey Cones stand at the food festival, captured the moment shots rang out at the Bite of Seattle food festival.
At the time of the event, the vendor was filming an outro to a ‘Live’ video.
In the background, distinct gunshots could be heard before one of the content creators’ colleagues pulled him away from the camera and informed him of what was happening.
Instead of fleeing the scene, various Hawaiian Honey Cones staff members crouched in the tent as streams of people filed past, some of which could be seen toppling over a white fence.
“Get the register and the tips,” someone in the tent was heard saying to a man crouched near the tent door.
“Get behind the generator, safest. Or behind the machine,” Monterroso instructed his colleagues.
Meanwhile, another one of the vendor operators told the group to ‘grab’ important stuff, including money, and vacate the area for their safety.
The footage, which has gone viral on Instagram, has drawn criticism from some users, with one writing: “Sir next time please run.”
In response, the Hawaiian Honey Cones account wrote: “As business guys, we always secure our money even tho it’s not the smartest thing to do.”
Someone else said: “Just a tip from me .. money doesn’t matter if your dead.”
“Literally the scariest moment of my life. Thank God you and the team are safe. Please get home safe to me,” Monterroso’s partner Fiorella wrote.
Another typed: “We almost lost the Hawaiian Honey Cone boss.”
Leanne Coles, a presumed attendee of the annual food festival, informed CBS News that she initially began running alongside everyone else.
“Everybody started running, and so we just ran too, and we ran through the garden and we ducked and we decided to keep running with the crowd.”
Meanwhile, Faith Adia Hunter, who sheltered in the Seattle Children’s Museum, told the Associated Press: “We were right next to him when it started so we took off running.”
Someone else told the BBC: "I couldn't tell you there were so many people I saw on the ground it was horrible.
"It's hard to tell anything. I was just asking people if they were okay, everything was just so chaotic, they told us to go back in so we started running, it was just like 'where do we go?'.”
Condemning the shooting as an ‘act of horrific violence’, Mayor Katie Wilson said in a press conference: “Impacted families are living through the worst moment of their lives, and an entire community is trying to understand how a gathering built around culture, connection, and joy ended in gunfire.
"Tonight, our attention belongs to the people whose lives were taken, those fighting to recover, and the families beside them," she continued.
"Seattle grieves with you, and we will stand with you in the difficult days ahead.”
The Seattle Police Department confirmed that an investigation into the shooting is still ongoing.
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson has condemned the food festival shooting as an act of ‘senseless violence’.
"My prayers are with the families of the victims, and the responders as they work to keep people safe," he said via social media.
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who represents Seattle wrote: "Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this senseless violence.
"We are in close touch with Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and Governor Bob Ferguson, and co-ordinating across multiple levels of government to get updates on the situation.”
FOODbible has previously contacted the Seattle Police Department for comment.