Gunfire shakes mellow Folklife Festival

Sarah Thorsnes was fresh with the glow of her pending graduation from the University of Washington as she, her boyfriend and their puppy sat down near Seattle Center's International Fountain on a warm Saturday evening to take in the Northwest Folklife Festival.

Then, in a flash: Two men grappled with each other, stumbled through the crowd and crashed into the couple. There was a crack of gunfire and Thorsnes' puppy bolted. Thorsnes gave chase.

Then she looked down to see a hole in her jeans — and a lot of her own blood. "I didn't feel the pain until I was on the ground," said Thorsnes, 21.

A stray bullet apparently fired during the fight between the two men Saturday evening pierced the forearm of Thorsnes' boyfriend, Joshua Penaluna, before lodging in her right thigh.

According to a Seattle police report, officers saw the two men struggling on the ground; it was not clear whether the two knew each other. Officers booked a 22-year-old man from Snohomish at the King County Jail for the alleged assault, and seized a Glock 9-mm handgun and an ankle holster.

A police report lists a third victim, a man, as being hit by gunfire, but does not specify how. Police seized a single 9-mm shell casing at the scene.

The shooting was the first incident of serious violence in the festival's 37-year history, said Rob Townsend, Folklife's executive director. About 250,000 people are expected to attend over the holiday weekend.

Thorsnes said she feels lucky that neither she nor her boyfriend was injured more seriously. But she and other Folklife-goers feel unnerved by what they see as a rougher edge to Seattle's annual feel-good festival of arts and folk music.

Jean Vignes, 51, said she had been out of town for the past 10 Folklife festivals before returning in 2006, and noticed it had attracted a younger, hard-partying crowd. As she was walking in on Saturday, she saw one man wearing a T-shirt reading, "Kill Hippies."

"I noticed a lot of people, a younger crowd, that aren't 'folk people' — the people bringing instruments and jamming music," said Vignes, who plays the dulcimer. "It's now like an excuse to gather in large crowds, sit on the grass, drink, smoke and talk. They're not there for folk life itself."

Townsend said he has heard concerns about the harder edge to the crowd and has debated making changes to the festival's programming. On Sunday, festival staff had installed more security fences at the site of the shooting to discourage large, potentially rowdy crowds from forming.

"We are looking at it constantly," said Townsend. "We'll look at it in terms of programming. But it's a free and open place, and these folks need a place to come hang out."

Molly Snow was browsing a tie-dye clothing booth near the fountain when the shooting prompted a large crowd to flee in her direction. The clothing vendor quickly linked arms with Snow and formed a huddle around nearby children — ages 5, 3 and 2 — to protect them.

"I didn't realize until we almost got trampled that there was any reason to be afraid," said Snow, 30, who quickly left the festival. "It was awful to have my 5-year-old say that night [that] she was glad we left because she didn't want to get shot."

Despite the alarm, Snow and others said they will be back. "I feel a lot less comfortable, but I will still go" today, the festival's last day, she said. "These are independent artists and this is their biggest sale of the year."

Thorsnes, an aspiring TV journalist, is on crutches for now, the bullet still lodged in her leg because the risks of removing it are too high.

And her puppy — a miniature Australian shepherd named Mayzee — was returned safe Saturday, thanks to a person in the Folklife crowd who caught him.

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com