Police in Washington, D.C. believe they may have prevented a mass shooting at the popular Gorge Amphitheater Friday night. In a Facebook post Saturday, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said officers arrested a 31-year-old man at the concert venue shortly after 9 p.m. during the Bass Canyon Electronic Music Festival. Several people reported the man’s suspicious behavior after he was seen inhaling an unknown substance from a balloon in the venue’s parking lot before stuffing two 9mm handguns into the trunk of his car and putting them on his belt. The man, identified by police as Jonathan R. Moody of nearby Ephrata, Wash., then reportedly approached several concertgoers and asked when the show would end and when people would be leaving the space. Concert security arrested Moody and disarmed him. “The Gorge Amphitheater does not allow weapons on the premises, but Moody’s possession of weapons was not the sole factor in his arrest,” the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said. “Moody’s actions of appearing to inhale an intoxicated breath, loading weapons in the parking lot, and his questions about where concertgoers would be exiting and at what time, heightened the suspicions of witnesses and deputies. Moody did not make statements to MPs.” Bass Canyon posted on social media that Moody did not have a wristband to enter the festival and was not trying to enter when he was detained. Moody was arrested on suspicion of one count of possession of a dangerous weapon and one count of unlawfully carrying or handling a weapon and booked into the Grant County Jail. No one was injured during the incident. The Bass Canyon festival, headlined by dubstep artist Excision, was a sold-out event, with more than 25,000 attendees. Just a five-hour drive south of Kelowna, the Gorge Amphitheater has long been a popular concert venue for British Columbians. “Remember: if you see something, say something,” the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said. “Citizens saw something completely out of place about the conditions and alerted security, who in turn alerted MPs. This combination of situational awareness along with noticing “something is not right” resulted in averting a potential tragedy. “Thank you to the concert goers who reported this man and to the venue security who prevented the man from entering the concert venue.”
