Dozens of vendors say they are trying to figure out how to move on after being caught in the crosshairs of Sunday’s Bite of Seattle shooting that killed three and injured four people.
Nana’s Food Bites employee Thirdie Buenventure said he was only feet from the three gunmen when the shots started.
“I had to hide out in the fridge with my coworker and her mom because I was scared since there was a gun,” Buenventure said.
By Tuesday morning, the Seattle Center was mostly cleared out. The remnants of the abandoned food and tents are gone, but Buenventure said he is still having trouble processing the event.
“I sleep last night like three hours, then I woke up and I hear a gun, I try to sleep again,” Buenventure said.
The Nana’s Food Bites crew says they are coping the best they can by working and staying busy.
Buenventure said they will try to rest this week, but really can’t afford to take time off.
“It’s too hard... we need to rest one week only, then go back... there’s a lot of events in August,” Buenventure explained.
He said they must work this weekend to get back all the money they lost. On top of all the food waste that happened because everyone ditched their booths to run to safety, Buenventure said their cash box was also stolen Sunday night during or after the Seattle Police Department investigation of the area.
In the end, he said the same thing most vendors told us: they are lucky revenue is all they lost.
“We are good, we are still alive,” Buenventure said.