Families of Gorge festival shooting victims sue Live Nation for security failures
Last summer, two people died and several others were injured during a shooting at The Gorge Campground near the Amphitheatre during the Beyond Wonderland music festival.
Now their families are suing the event coordinators and involved security companies for their failure to ensure safety at the event, according to a news release from Panish, Shea and Ravipudi LLP (PSR).
Seattle-based nurses, Brandy Escamilla, 29, and her fiancee Josilyn Ruiz, 26, were killed while they were walking along the eastern edge of the Gorge campgrounds. Three others, including a security officer, were injured before a Moses Lake detective stopped the shooter.
The Gorge amphitheater in George, WA is located in Grant County, about 2.5 hours east of Seattle and 2 hours north of the Tri-Cities.
Families sue
The Escamilla and Ruiz families have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in King County against Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary Insomniac Holdings, as well as security companies working Beyond Wonderland. Represented by Brian Panish, Spencer Lucas and Hunter Norton of PSR and co-counsel from Kevin Boyle of Boyle Law, the lawsuit hopes to “hold the entities accountable for their egregiously deficient conduct and security protocols,” according to the press release.
While Live Nation and The Gorge both have strict no weapons and no drugs policies, the alleged shooter James M. Kelly had a handgun and ammunition in his car, parked at the campground, and claims to have had hallucinogenic mushrooms as well. The lawsuit alleges that Live Nation “woefully fell short in enforcing its policies.”
One of the injured victims was Kelly’s girlfriend, Lily Luksich. She has joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff, represented by Tomás Gahan, Felix Luna and Paul Sewell of PWRFL, according to the press release.
“All Brandy and Josilyn wanted to do that weekend was enjoy good music, dance, and unwind from the week but instead, they lost their lives and their opportunity to spend their lives together as they’d intended,” the Escamilla and Ruiz families stated in the press release. “We now only have pictures of our beautiful girls to look at instead of being able to hold them in our arms again, hear their voices, and let them know how much they are loved. We never want any parent or family to have to go through what we have been through.”
The families allege that event organizers could have, and should have, prevented the deaths.
Live Nation was not immediately available for comment.
Updates following Gorge shooting
Kelly pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
Legal proceedings regarding the charges have been ongoing, with an upcoming readiness hearing. There is no official trial date on record at this time.