What started out as a fun and family-oriented Halloween-themed market on Saturday, Oct. 25, at McKenna Park quickly turned tragic.
During the early afternoon hours, an oak tree fell, killing one person and injuring several others.
The “Haunted Witches Market,” hosted by Centaur Sisters of the Moon Events, occurred at the Pierce County-based park on Saturday and was set to occur from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Along with numerous vendor booths set up at the park, activities such as face painting, henna tattoos and trick-or-treating were set for the event.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Carly Cappetto, who serves as public information officer for the agency, told the Nisqually Valley News that a 31-year-old man was killed after being struck by a branch from the fallen tree.
Cappetto added that three others were transported to a hospital with conditions ranging from serious to non-life-threatening injuries. She noted she was not aware of the ages or genders of the three attendees who were taken to a nearby medical facility.
“It was just an awful event — totally unexpected,” Cappetto told the Nisqually Valley News. “It was totally a freak accident, something I don’t think anyone would have thought of. It’s not uncommon to hear about trees falling on cars or homes.”
Reports of the incident began rolling in shortly after 1 p.m., and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, South Pierce Fire and Rescue and Central Pierce Fire and Rescue responded to the scene.
Upon the Nisqually Valley News’ arrival to the scene, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that one attendee of the event was deceased and that several others were injured and transported to local medical facilities. Roughly 40 to 80 people were in attendance at the event in Pierce County.
“Occasionally, maybe once a year, we’ll have an accident where somebody has been hit, struck by a tree, dies — very freak accident type of thing,” Cappetto said. “This time of year is a good time to reassess trees on people’s properties and around their homes to ensure we don’t have anything that could cause an accident like this. We live in a beautiful state. There’s lots of trees around here. Unfortunately, it comes with these types of accidents.”
McKenna Park is located at 35621 State Route 507 South, and is owned and operated by Centralia City Light.
