Vigil held for victims of Seattle food festival shooting

+ National Vigil held for victims of Seattle food festival shooting July 28, 20264:43 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Casey Martin Vigil held for victims of Seattle food festival shooting Listen &middot; 2:06 2:06 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5909424/nx-s1-9865536" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Seattle residents gathered for a vigil for the three victims of Sunday's shooting at a food festival, while police searched for a second suspect. Sponsor Message Transcript LEILA FADEL, HOST: Dozens of mourners gathered in Seattle for a candlelight vigil a day after a mass shooting near the Space Needle that killed three people. Casey Martin from member station KUOW reports.

+ CASEY MARTIN, BYLINE: The vigil was held close to where the shooting happened at a large food festival. Many vendor tents were still up, some with supplies scattered on the ground after people ran away from the bullets. James E. Sears III is a Seattle pastor who helped organize Monday's vigil. He says he's worried about the city after learning that one of the suspects is a 15-year-old. JAMES E SEARS III: Today, I woke up doubtful. I'm not going to lie to you. MARTIN: Seattle's mayor says she thinks three people were firing at each other, possibly in a gang fight. Police say one suspect was arrested, the second hasn't been found and the third may have been among the dead. The 15-year-old suspect appeared in court on Monday. At the vigil, the group held a moment of silence and read the victims' names aloud. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ashley Whitehead. UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Presente. MICHELLE WHITEHEAD: Well, her name was Ashley Whitehead. She was my cousin. MARTIN: Michelle Whitehead, cousin of Ashley Whitehead, one of the three people killed. WHITEHEAD: I'm very exhausted, and I'm still quite stunned and bewildered and angry. This shouldn't happen here. And this was one of the happiest places in the world for us here. MARTIN: She says Whitehead left behind two daughters. Five other people who were injured in the shooting have all been released from the hospital, including a 2-year-old boy. Seattle's mayor and police chief spoke at Monday's vigil, calling for an end to gun violence with the city's youth. After seeing so many people show up in support of the victims, Sears, the pastor and co-organizer, said it gives him faith in the community. SEARS: Seattle can stand on something that's solid. We can persevere and can press past the senselessness of gun violence. So I feel more hopeful now than I did this morning. UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. MARTIN: Another vigil is set for Wednesday in the same spot. For NPR News, I'm Casey Martin in Seattle. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{310:function(e,n,o){o.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([o.e(1),o.e(2),o.e(3),o.e(4),o.e(80)]).then((e=>{o(15),o(769),o(155),o(176),o(93),o(447),o(254),o(128),o(130),o(754),o(175),o(755),o(255),o(78),o(773)}).bind(null,o)).catch(o.oe)},782:function(e,n,o){e.exports=o(310)}},[[782,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();