Deputies believe mass shooting prevented at Gorge Amphitheater
Aug 20, 2022, 4:39 PM
General view of atmosphere during the Watershed Country Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre on July 31, 2022 in George, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images)
Deputies with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office believe a mass shooting was avoided at the Gorge Amphitheater on Friday night.
At around 9 p.m. on Friday, deputies were notified by citizens and security of a man in the parking lot, inhaling something from a balloon and loading two 9mm pistols from the trunk of his car.
Witnesses said the man hid one pistol in the rear of his waistband and the other in a holster.
The man, later identified as 30-year-old Jonathan R. Moody of Ephrata, asked concertgoers what time the concert was ending and where people were going to be exiting.
The Gorge Amphitheater was hosting “Bass Canyon,” an electronic dance music festival with nearly 25,000 people attending.
Moody was detained by security outside of the venue, where he was disarmed of his two loaded pistols.
When deputies arrived, Moody was arrested and booked into the Grant County Jail.
No one was injured.
