Police Believe They Prevented a Mass Shooting at Washington Festival

Fan security and well-being at music festivals have been topics of increasing importance in the past few years. With the tragedy of the 2021 Astroworld Festival still at the forefront of performers’ and fans’ minds, crowd behavior is more scrutinized today than perhaps ever before.

And, most recently, police officers arrested a man at the Bass Canyon EDM Festival in Grant County, Washington after several reports of suspicious behavior.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office posted a statement via Facebook on August 20 about the event: “Citizens and security notified deputies around 9 p.m. of a man in the parking lot. Witnesses’ suspicions were raised when they saw the man inhale an unknown substance or gas from a balloon and then load two 9mm pistols from the trunk of his car. The man concealed one pistol in the rear of his waistband and the other in an outside-the-waistband holster. The suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Jonathan R. Moody of Ephrata, approached concertgoers, asking what time the concert ended and where people would be exiting the venue.”

The post continued, “Grant County sheriff’s deputies on Friday night believe they stopped an Ephrata man who may have had plans to commit a mass shooting at the Gorge Amphitheater.”

Moody did not make it into the venue, where there were “upwards of 25,000 people attending” the music festival, as reported by the Sheriff’s Office. The Friday night show had sold out. So, upon arrest, Moody was taken in for “suspicion of one count of possession of a dangerous weapon and one count of unlawful carrying or handling of a weapon.” He was placed in the county jail and no concert-goers were hurt.

“Remember: if you see something, say something,” the county police concluded. “Citizens saw something completely out of place for the circumstances and notified security, who in turn notified deputies. That combination of situational awareness along with noticing “something does not fit” resulted in a possible tragedy being prevented.”

Read the county police’s full statement HERE or below.