Seattle mass shooting kills 3; U.S.-Iran attacks pause
Police arrested one suspect after gunfire at a Seattle food festival, while NPR reports the U.S. and Iran have paused attacks.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
A Seattle mass shooting at a food festival near the Space Needle left three people dead and four injured Sunday evening, according to NPR and KUOW. Police have arrested one suspect, and authorities said another person may still be at large, though they do not believe the public faces an immediate threat.
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. at the base of the Space Needle, NPR reported. Seattle Police Acting Chief Tyrone Davis described the person in custody as a "young person," and authorities recovered two guns at the scene, according to the report.
What happened in the Seattle mass shooting?
Hundreds of people were attending the food festival, which KUOW reporter Casey Martin described to NPR’s Up First as one of Seattle’s largest such events and a gathering popular with families. Martin reported that people ran after hearing gunfire, and some witnesses compared the rush to escape to a stampede.
One carnival game worker told Martin they helped children and adults climb over a fence to get away from the area. Police are asking the public to share video of the shooting because there were no surveillance cameras at the spot where it happened, Martin reported.
Martin told NPR that the lack of camera footage is likely to feed continued debate over public safety at large public gatherings. Authorities have not released a motive in the shooting, according to NPR’s account.
What does the U.S.-Iran pause mean?
NPR also reported that the U.S. and Iran have paused attacks after nearly two weeks of strikes and counterstrikes in the Middle East. An Iranian army spokesperson said Sunday that Iran stopped its attacks at the same time as the U.S., according to NPR.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Washington and Tehran are sending messages through mediators, NPR reported. Baghaei said Iran has not requested talks and is not negotiating with the U.S.
The conflict has also affected shipping and energy markets, according to NPR’s Jane Arraf. She reported that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels recently closed the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a key Red Sea shipping route, and that oil prices rose to a two-month high after the move.
Arraf said the shutdown showed the fighting was spreading beyond the original frame of the U.S. and Israel confronting Iran. She also reported that Iran says any durable ceasefire with the U.S. depends on a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Israel has agreed to pull back from some test areas, but that process has been slow, Arraf reported. NPR did not report that the U.S.-Iran pause had become a formal ceasefire.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.