Folklife shooter pleads guilty to assault

A Snohomish man who opened fire at Seattle's Folklife Festival, wounding a couple and sending festivalgoers scurrying for cover, has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree assault.

Clinton Grainger, a house painter with a history of drug addiction and schizophrenia, could receive up to eight months in jail when sentenced on Aug. 29, said Ian Goodhew, chief of staff for the King County Prosecutor's Office. Grainger pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court on Monday.

Police say that at about 6:30 p.m. on May 24, Grainger got into a fight with a man near the International Fountain at Seattle Center during the annual Folklife Festival, according to court charging papers. Grainger pushed the man and reached toward his ankle, where he had a pistol stashed in an ankle holster, charging documents say.

The man tackled Grainger in an attempt to wrestle the gun away from him, charging papers say. A second man joined in, and the gun went off — the gunpowder burned the face of one of the men, court papers say. The bullet then passed through a man's hand and a woman's thigh.

Grainger had obtained a concealed-weapons permit from the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Goodhew said that Grainger initially was charged with second-degree assault but the charge was reduced when investigators couldn't find evidence of an intentional assault.

The conviction will prohibit Grainger from legally possessing firearms in the future.

"It was appropriately resolved as a negligent assault," Goodhew said. "The evidence we gathered clearly showed there was negligence on his part and no intent of a shooting."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com