Shooting At Homeless Camp In Seattle Kills 2, Wounds 3

Police say they are searching for an active shooter.

Bicycles remain stacked against a support post for Interstate 5 above as crime scene tape surrounds the site of a shooting the night before at a homeless encampment, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, in Seattle.

Two people were killed in the Tuesday attack.

The conditions of the three people wounded by gunfire continue to improve, Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

At least five people were reported shot near a homeless encampment in Seattle late Tuesday, and at least one gunman was still at large. The Seattle Times reports that the victims ranged in age from 25 to 45 and “had gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen, and back”.

Police believe it was “very targeted”, said Assistant Seattle Police Chief Bob Merner. He said police had reason to believe it was a targeted attack.

The shooting happened at around the same time Seattle Mayor Ed Murray finished delivering a special address on homelessness at Mary’s Place Family Center, about two miles north of the encampment.

The shooting happened minutes before Murray was scheduled to give a talk on homelessness at a shelter. He said his office, the office of King County Executive Dow Constantine, and the office of Governor Jay Inslee will over the next two days “launch an assessment” of the area to figure out how to “take control of this situation”, but provided few specifics.

“Maybe I should have issued the state of emergency months earlier”, Murray said. The Police Department will conduct welfare checks on residents of other encampments near The Jungle to reassure they are not in danger because of the Tuesday shooting and provide security.

Authorities want to talk to two people in connection with the shooting. We see the tents under freeways, rundown RVs in our neighborhoods, people on the sidewalks with signs that read ‘disabled veteran, anything helps.’ This is what income inequality looks like. The city’s homeless population had exploded, he said, and Seattle needed state and federal aid to keep up. “And it’s not going to be easy given the size of this crisis”.