GEORGE, Wash. — "We heard shots, and then we heard, like that confrontation between the guy and the girl and I was like, that definitely is not right," Beyond Wonderland attendee Garrett explained. "You know, it's like just like fight or flight."
Saturday night, Grant County Sheriff's Office deputies and venue personnel responded to an active shooter at a campground near the Gorge Amphitheater.
The shooting happened a 15-minute walk away from the main stage, in the same campground Garrett and his friends had set up their tent for the weekend.
Garrett said day one of the festival began as expected.
"We were just hanging out all day waiting for the first shows to start at like three, four o'clock. So four o'clock rolls around and we're at the main stage. Having a good time."
He said around 7 p.m., he and his friends went back to their tent to take a break before the late night sets.
Less than two hours after sitting down, he said they heard gun fire and an argument between a man and woman.
When he came out of his tent to see what was going on, he said he came face-to-face with someone with a gun.
He said he immediately tried to de-escalate the situation.
“I ran practically right into the guy," Garrett said. "Was this dude holding a pistol, he was putting it up to me with the flashlight on. He was dragging this girl with them. I was like, 'What the --- are you doing? Drop your gun.' He was pointed at me telling me to get the --- away. I started yelling to my friend and really just to anyone, I was like, 'Yo, this guy's got a --- gun. We got to do something.'"
Garrett said the person was dragging a woman by the arm through the campground.
"We're like taking cover behind a few cars and we just start tracking him because he's backpedaling, dragging the girl away towards the edge of the campsite," Garrett said. "Shot like a few times in the air, and then some cops came over."
Garrett said the cops asked him what was going on and he told them what he just experienced.
He also said the cop told him two people had been shot earlier.
"He pointed me into their direction," Garrett said. "I ran over to see how they were doing. And I'm running, I'm running up. I can see there's two girls laying on the ground."
Garrett said he's EMT certified and currently works in the medical field.
"As I was running up to them, it was pretty obvious that they were both dead already," Garrett said. "Because the one female was already like, pretty gray. And like, as I was checking on the carotid pulse, which is just up here on her neck, like, there was absolutely no pulse."
This all happened as the concert - just a short walk away - continued.
“It was a really eerie feeling," Garrett said. "Hearing the sets booming in the distance while all this was happening. Like, you hear people cheering and having just like an awesome weekend, and all this stuff is happening, like a mile away, and I had like no idea what to do.”
As terrifying as the situation was, Garrett said this won’t stop him from living his life or going to festivals.
"I can see it being a deterrent for some people because it is scary," Garrett said. "You just never know who you're next to, or what's going to happen. I think being situationally aware is definitely key when you're out with a bunch of strangers, but it's not going to this personally won't stop me from going."
As of Monday, law enforcement has not revealed what weapon was used or the identities of the deceased victims or shooter.
The North Central Washington Special Investigations Unit has taken over for the Grant County Sheriff's Office in investigating the situation since a GCSO deputy shot the suspect.
Live Nation has not gotten back to KREM2 or its sister stations in its half-dozen requests for comment on Saturday's shooting.
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