Seattle Center shooting renews focus on emergency preparedness at public events

A growing memorial honoring the victims of Sunday’s mass shooting at Seattle Center serves as a painful reminder of how quickly a day of celebration can turn into tragedy.

Just moments before gunfire erupted at the Bite of Seattle food festival, the atmosphere was filled with families enjoying food, music and summer festivities. Then, panic spread through the crowd as shots rang out.

Brad Rasmussen was attending the festival with his mother when the shooting began.

“I was just waiting for a bullet to hit me, or my mom, or someone around us,” Rasmussen said. “My first reaction was to crouch, so we were crouching so low, but also trying to run at the same time.”

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The shooting has prompted renewed conversations about how people should respond when violence breaks out at crowded public events.

Jim Fuda, executive director of Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound, said preparation before an emergency can make a critical difference.

“Whether it be a festival, movie theater, mall, schools, anything like that where there is a propensity for bad actors to be around, just know your exits,” Fuda said. “Pay attention. When something should happen, how would you protect yourself and your family?”

Fuda said situational awareness begins long before an emergency occurs. He encourages people to identify exits as they arrive at large gatherings and remain alert to anything that seems out of place.

“Let’s say it’s 90 degrees out and you see someone in a long heavy coat and it doesn’t look right,” Fuda said. “Get away from that person. Exit yourself from that situation.”

According to Fuda, people often have just two or three seconds to make life-saving decisions during an active threat.

“You have to decide whether you’re far enough away where you can run as far as you can, or do I have to hide,” he said.

For survivors like Rasmussen, the trauma extends well beyond the moments of gunfire.

“It’s hard to stop thinking about it,” Rasmussen said. “You just kind of re-live it.”

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As investigators continue working to determine what led to Sunday’s shooting, safety experts hope the tragedy also serves as a reminder for the public to remain aware of their surroundings and trust their instincts.

“If you see something, say something,” Fuda said.