A mass shooting near Seattle’s Space Needle landmark killed three people and wounded four others, including a toddler, on Sunday evening.

Seattle Police said one suspect has been arrested and they are searching for another following the incident at a food festival in a popular tourist district of the northwestern US city.

Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis said shots were heard around 18:00 (01:00 GMT) and “there were two people who we believe were shooting at each other.” Two weapons were recovered.

There is “no outstanding threat to the community,” he said.

The shooting took place during the “Bite of Seattle” summer festival celebrating local businesses and food vendors.

Four patients were being treated at the trauma centre facility at Harborview Medical Center, according to spokesperson Susan Gregg: a child, a woman of unknown age who was in surgery, a man (23) and a woman (39).

Davis said those in the hospital were in a stable condition.

Several witnesses told Seattle television station KIRO they heard multiple shots before running away.

“At first, I thought there were fireworks, and then everybody flooded and ran past us,” Nick Bate told the station.

“We started running. I didn’t know. I didn’t look where the person was going. I just heard everything,” another witness told AFP.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson said State Patrol SWAT officers had been deployed to assist local police.

“My prayers are with the families of the victims, and the responders as they work to keep people safe,” he said on X.

Mayor Katie Wilson said the shooting was “an act of horrific violence.”

“Our attention belongs to the people whose lives were taken, those fighting to recover, and the families beside them,” she said in a statement.

She also expressed her thanks to “the Seattle police officers who responded to the scene and took a suspect into custody.”

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