A Seattle man was arrested at The Gorge Amphitheater on Sunday evening after a 27-year-old man died at the venue from suspected drug poisoning during the Bass C
A Seattle man was arrested at The Gorge Amphitheatre on Sunday evening after a 27-year-old man died at the venue from suspected drug poisoning during the Bass Canyon electronic dance music festival, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
Grant County’s Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, or INET, said detectives learned of the death at the concert venue and spoke with the victim’s friends. Investigators learned the victim had consumed drugs purchased from another festival attendee, the sheriff’s office said.
Witnesses told investigators the victim became ill after consuming the suspected controlled substances and later died at the venue’s medical facility.
INET identified the suspected drug dealer as a 28-year-old man, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives conducted an undercover operation targeting the suspect and purchased suspected illegal drugs from him, the sheriff’s office said. After the transaction, investigators arrested the man on suspicion of one count of delivery of a controlled substance and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute — one count each involving cocaine, ketamine and MDMA allegedly found in his possession.
INET is investigating the death as a suspected controlled substance homicide. The Grant County Coroner’s Office will perform the victim’s autopsy this week, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said concert venue operator Live Nation provided vital assistance to INET during the investigation.
INET is a multiagency, multijurisdictional drug task force that investigates illegal drug trafficking in Grant and Adams counties. It combines personnel and resources from participating local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and is a Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiative, including a criminal intelligence analyst from the Washington National Guard Counterdrug Program.
More than 1 million Americans died from drug overdoses between 2000 and 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
