Victims, suspect in Gorge music festival shooting identified
QUINCY, Wash. (KPTV) - The two people who were shot and died over the weekend at the Gorge Amphitheatre campground have been identified by the Grant County Coroner’s Office. Along with the suspect, who was shot by law enforcement. Three other people were hurt in the shooting.
Around 8:25 p.m. on June 17, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office issued a “active shooter” alert for the Gorge Amphitheatre. Later, the warning was changed to clarify the shooting was at campgrounds close to the Amphitheatre rather than the actual music grounds.
At the time of the shooting, Beyond Wonderland, a multi-day EDM festival, was in progress and a large number of festival goers were at the campground close to the arena.
Four people were shot at the campground when a suspect reportedly began opening fire randomly into a group. Two died.
While deputies were responding to the call, the suspect “randomly continued to shoot into the crowd,” according to the sheriff’s office. The man was shot by deputies, who then arrested him. The suspect was taken to the hospital for treatment of his wounds and has since been jailed.
A person is in custody Saturday evening after a shooting that killed two people and injured two others at the Gorge Amphitheatre campground in Grant Co., Wash.
One of the victims is Seattle resident Josilyn Ruiz, 26, according to a GoFundMe. According to the online fundraiser, which was set up by her sister-in-law and was confirmed by FOX 13 Seattle, Ruiz went to the festival with her fiancé, 29-year-old Brandy Escamilla.
The coroner’s office also confirmed the identities of Escamilla and Ruiz to FOX 13 Seattle.
“Our lives will never be the same. Josilyn is a daughter, sister, godmother, aunt, niece, cousin, friend, nurse, and fiance. Words cannot describe the pain our family and friends are grieving from our precious loss of a wonderful angel,” the GoFundMe read.
She was a registered nurse, according to her family, and she enjoyed going on excursions with her fiancé. According to her relatives, Ruiz was generous and eager to go above and above to help people. According to the GoFundMe, she enjoyed dancing, singing, going to music festivals, having outdoor adventures, and traveling.
The suspect has been identified by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office as James Kelly, 26, a soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
Kelly is being jailed on two first-degree murder charges, two first-degree assault charges, and one first-degree assault-domestic violence charge.
A motive for the shooting is currently unknown.
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Source: Fox 12 Oregon
