Beyond Wonderland cancelled after two killed in shooting at festival campground

Beyond Wonderland Festival has been cancelled after a shooting at a nearby campground resulted in the deaths of two people.

The electronic music festival was being held at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington this weekend but last night (June 17) police were alerted to an “active shooter” in the nearby campground, where many festival attendees were due to stay, while artists were performing at the festival.

A police conference later in the evening reported that officers had “pursued (and) closed-in on the suspect” but they continued to “fire randomly into the crowd” before being apprehended (via Variety).

Beyond Wonderland later tweeted “there is no current danger to festival goers or the campgrounds” but asked festival goers to avoid the campsite in question due to an “incident”.

Please avoid the Gorge Gate H campgrounds area as it is closed due to an incident that has been handled by local authorities. There is no current danger to festival goers or the campgrounds.

— Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge (@BeyondWlandPNW) June 18, 2023

It was then confirmed by Grant County Sheriff’s Office that two people had been killed and an additional three had been injured, including the shooter.

Shortly after the incident, producer Whipped Cream cancelled their appearance at Beyond Wonderland. “I’m deeply sorry but I can’t perform knowing people just died here, we need to have some respect,” they said in a since-deleted tweet (via Mixmag). “I’m in utter shock and I’m going to pay my respects to the families who just lost a loved one.”

A new update via the festival organiser’s app has seemingly confirmed that the second day of Beyond Wonderland will now be cancelled completely.

Everyone at the Gorge, Beyond is cancelled tomorrow. Please get some rest and take care of yourselves ???? pic.twitter.com/30tWmCcK7g

— mehlika ???? (@smthng_comfrtng) June 18, 2023

“Earlier this evening, there was an isolated emergency incident that occurred in a remote area of the festival campgrounds. As a result, day 2 of Beyond Wonderland has unfortunately been cancelled,” read the update, although the campground will remain open until tomorrow (June 19) so people have somewhere to stay.

Afrojack, Andy C and Marshmello were among the artists due to perform today (June 18).

This is a developing story – check back for updates at NME.COM