A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier was sentenced to 70 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing two women and injuring three other people in a 2023 shooting during a music festival at Washington’s Columbia River Gorge.
Spc. James M. Kelly, 29, admitted last week to fatally shooting festival-goers Brandy Escamilla and Josilyn Ruiz near his campsite after ingesting the hallucinogenic drug psilocybin during the Beyond Woodland electronic dance music festival on June 17, 2023, Army officials announced.
He also pleaded guilty to domestic violence, reckless discharge of a firearm, and the wrongful use and possession of psilocybin.
“This sentence reflects the seriousness of Spc. Kelly’s conduct and represents an important step towards accountability and justice,” said Army Capt. Stewart Miller, who prosecuted the case for the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel. “We will continue to honor the victims and their families, and hope this result brings a measure of closure to a long and tragic chapter in the many lives impacted by this case.”
Kelly will serve his prison sentence in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He was also sentenced to a reduction in rank to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge from the military.
Kelly was a fire support specialist with the elite 75th Ranger Regiment’s 2nd Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Prosecutors said he was attending the music festival with his girlfriend when he began “exhibiting paranoid behavior” after ingesting the drugs. When the couple returned to their camping site, Kelly retrieved a handgun from his truck and shot multiple rounds at Escamilla and Ruiz, passersby whom he did not know.
Kelly continued shooting, striking another person as his girlfriend attempted to stop him and dialed 911, prosecutors said.
Kelly then struck his girlfriend before shooting her twice in the lower body, prosecutors said.
He then turned his fire toward three security officials who arrived on an all-terrain vehicle, shooting one.
Prosecutors said he also shot a law enforcement drone that police were using to locate him.
Grant County Sheriff’s deputies ended Kelly’s assault by shooting him and immediately arresting him. He was initially hospitalized and remained jailed until his sentencing on Friday, officials said.
Grant County prosecutors turned the case over to the Army in February. Kelly initially pleaded not guilty to all charges in March before entering a guilty plea Nov. 2 ahead of his trial, court records show.
