Live Nation and its Insomniac Events subsidiary have been sued by the families of the two people who died during a shooting incident at the 2023 edition of the Beyond Wonderland festival in the US state of Washington.
“Live Nation has the means and the duty to make sure security is the highest priority for their concert patrons”, the families said in a statement, according to Deadline. “Never should someone’s life be taken so senselessly and tragically at a music event”.
Brandy Escamilla and Josilyn Ruiz both died when a shooting occurred on the first day of the Beyond Wonderland event. They were shot by another festival-goer, James M Kelly, who told police that he had taken a dose of psychedelic mushrooms prior to the shooting.
His girlfriend, who was also injured, revealed that, while under the influence of the drugs, Kelly thought the world was ending.
Kelly had brought drugs and a firearm onto the festival site, despite event rules prohibiting both. To that end, the families of Escamilla and Ruiz argue that Live Nation and Insomnia had lax security protocols in place that resulted in their own rules not being enforced.
“We hope filing this lawsuit sends a message to Live Nation and their associates that they are responsible for the deaths of Brandy and Josilyn”, their statement continued. “They are responsible for our broken and shattered lives. Our families will never recover from this loss, but we do not want their deaths to be in vain. This could have and should have been prevented”.
