Increased police presence at the suspicious death at Pemberton Music Festival, July 18, 2014. Photo: Mark Yuen, PNG By Matthew Robinson, Vancouver Sun
Homicide investigators rushed to Pemberton Friday to investigate a “suspicious death” at the Pemberton Music Festival.
The RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team gave no concrete information about what had happened, but confirmed on Twitter that a team had been deployed.
“We are early in this investigation,” read one tweet by IHIT, which added that no further information would be provided until Saturday at the earliest.
Washroom has been cordoned off at Pemberton Music Festival on July 18th, 2014. (Mark Yuen, PNG)
Police at the festival used fences to cordon off about two dozen tents in the “Founders” campground. Campers whose tents had been surrounded were not allowed inside the barricaded area to get their belongings.
A police mobile command vehicle drove onto festival grounds late in the evening and parked directly behind a row of portable toilets at the edge of the camping area.
Campers located adjacent to the crime scene said the incident happened in the early evening, and witnesses said they watched medical staff attend to a man under a large tent. Eventually they stopped tending to the man and police stepped in.
More than 20 tents have been cordoned off behind police tape at the suspicious death at Pemberton Music Festival, July 18, 2014. (Mark Yuen, PNG)
Festival goers took to social media, tweeting about what they were seeing at the scene and hearing from police.
“Security personnel just told us that bathrooms may be cordoned off as police site all weekend,” Twitter user Reut Amit said around 9:15 p.m.
HUKA Entertainment, the New Orleans-based organizer of the music festival, located about 30 kilometres northeast of Whistler, issued a statement late Friday confirming that “an incident has occurred in one of the festival campgrounds,” but offered no further details.
The company said its staff were working with Pemberton Fire Rescue to care for the campers who need to be relocated during the investigation.
Meanwhile, performances by headliners Kendrick Lamar and Nine Inch Nails continued nearby.
mrobinson@vancouversun.com
With files from Dean Broughton and Francois Marchand
Increased police presence at the suspicious death at Pemberton Music Festival, July 18, 2014. (Mark Yuen, PNG)
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