Suspicious death at Pemberton Music Festival, homicide investigators en route
A suspicious death has occurred earlier this evening on the first day of the Pemberton Music Festival.
The death occurred at an official festival campsite and the crime scene has been cordoned off by police. The body is still located at where it was found – it is believed that the death happened in a washroom at the “founder’s” area during the early evening.
Homicide investigators from Metro Vancouver are en route to the scene. A mobile police command unit has arrived at the site.
Festival organizers have issued a statement confirming the death:
The Pemberton Music Festival can confirm that an accident has occurred in one of the festival campgrounds. RCMP are onsite investigating. HUKA Entertainment is working with Pemberton Fire Rescue to care for campers who need to be relocated during the police investigation.
Festival attendee Reut Amit tweeted that bathrooms at the campsite may be cordoned off by police throughout the weekend.
Vancity Buzz staff attending the festival this evening report that most festival goers are still enjoying performances and events. The vast majority are not aware of the death at this time.
40,000 music fans are expected to travel up the Sea to Sky Highway this weekend to attend the festival held at the town of 2,400 people. Thousands are camping at designated festival campsites, while others are staying at accommodations in Whistler or traveling daily to and from Metro Vancouver.
The festival was previously organized by Live Nation and revived this year after a six year break. There were organizational, capacity and transportation issues during that year’s event, but Huka Entertainment has spent $18 million to tackle the problems.
Headliners tonight at Pemberton Music Festival are Nine Inch Nails and Kendrick Lamar. On Saturday, Snoop Dogg and Deadmau5 will be the festival’s biggest acts. Outkast and Frank Ocean are also scheduled to perform on Sunday.
100 performances are scheduled throughout the entire multi-day event.
Something has happened at the #pemberton music festival. #vancouver pic.twitter.com/M14MLnIi1A
— Reut Amit (@reutamit) July 19, 2014
Security personnel just told us that bathrooms may be cordoned off as police site all weekend. #pemberton
— Reut Amit (@reutamit) July 19, 2014
Featured Image: @reutamit via Twitter
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