Beefed Up Patrols During Beyond Wonderland Show At Gorge

The Washinton State Patrol and the Grant County Sheriff's Office are beefing up patrols for this weekend's Beyond Wonderland Concert Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater near George. 

The agencies are conducting joint High Visibility Enforcement (HiVE) patrols, with a goal of reducing serious injury and fatality crashes. 

The final day of last summer's Beyond Wonderland Festival was cancelled after a shooting in the Gorge campgrounds left two people dead and three injured. 

The high visibility patrols will take place Friday through Sunday, which covers all three days of the concert festival. 

The State Patrol will use the High Visibility patrols to place troopers in locations where they can have the biggest impact. 

Weekend festivals at the Gorge draw large crowds that drive from the west side and all over the region to the venue, which overlooks the Columbia River south and west of George. 

The venue can seat more than 20,000 people. 

The State Patrol will also use K-9 troopers and an Aggressive Driving Apprehension Team (ADAT) this weekend. 

They'll also be looking for the use of electronic devices and seatbelt violations.

Meanwhile, security at the festival will be stepped up this weekend. Concert goers are being advise wait times to enter the campgrounds may range from 2 to 3 hours. 

There's currently a wrongful death lawsuit against the Gorge venue owner - Live Nation - and its security contractors. It was brought by the family of one of the people killed during the shooting. 

The lawsuit says Live Nation failed to enforce its own policies banning guns and illegal drugs from the venue. 

Detectives say 26-year-old James Kelly told officers he was having a bad hallucination experience after taking mushrooms at the concert. 

Kelly reportedly went to his pickup truck in the venue's campground areas, where he found and loaded his handgun.   

Detectives say he shot and two women who were directly in the vicinity and shot and injured two other people. After walking into a field with his girlfriend, detectives say he shot and injured her. 

Officers then closed in on Kelly, and a Moses Lake Police officer shot and injured him. 

Kelly is charged with murder and assault resulting from the shooting.