Tag Archives: the jungle

Seattle freeway encampments to be cleared as rock throwing incidents bring surveillance flights, arrests

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A small surveillance plane buzzed large circles around Capitol Hill and the Central District early Thursday morning as crews prepared to remove encampments above the I-90 and I-5 interchange area in the core of Seattle after weeks of rock and debris throwing incidents freeway endangering motorists.

The continued surveillance and camp removal follows the East Precinct’s arrest Tuesday of a man for throwing rocks at cars just before rush hour near the eastbound onramp to I-90 from Rainier Ave S. The arrest is one of at least five the King County Prosecutor’s office says have been taken into custody in recent weeks for the bizarre and dangerous acts. A sixth person was taken into custody but released, officials say, after the Washington State Patrol determined the suspect “was not the person they thought he was.”

Tuesday’s incident required an “help the officer” alert to be issued as police sped to the scene as the suspect began fighting during his arrest by WSP. Seattle Police says “a loaded 9mm magazine” fell from the man’s waistband as he was being apprehended. The area and nearby encampments were searched but a weapon was not located. Continue reading →

Mayor announces center for homeless as Tent City preps for Capitol Hill move

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Tent City has made its home on the Hill many times before including this stay at St. Mark's

Tent City has made its home on the Hill many times before including this stay at St. Mark’s

Seattle will be opening a service center for the homeless modeled on San Francisco’s navigation center, which opened in 2015. Meanwhile, the neighborhood will also host some of Seattle’s ongoing solutions to providing shelter for the area’s homeless population.

According to the announcement, Seattle’s center will be “dormitory style,” with showers, bathrooms, and laundry, dining, and storage facilities. Case management, mental health services, and behavioral management services will be available at all hours, and the center will be able to hold 75 people at one time.

The center was created through an executive order issued on June 9, 2016 by Mayor Ed Murray. In his executive order, Murray reaffirmed a commitment to fighting homelessness, citing the state of emergency Seattle declared with respect to homelessness in 2015 and the fact that as of last count, almost 3,000 people in the city are unsheltered. Murray charged the Human Services Department with evaluating San Francisco’s navigation center model and tailoring it to the needs of Seattle within the next two months. Continue reading →

Seattle says no thanks to The Jungle’s barbed wire fence but money could still go to clearing I-5 encampments

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(Image: OpenStreetMap)

(Image: OpenStreetMap)

Seattle officials gave a resounding “no” this week to a Seattle state Senator’s $1 million plan to build a barbed wire fence around a sprawling encampment along I-5.

Sen. Reuven Carlyle now says he was partially misunderstood, though his broadly worded plan to make the corridor safer could still include “limited, targeted” fencing. Carlyle’s funding could also be put to use to addressing safety and clean-up at I-5 encampments along the base of Capitol Hill and First Hill where even more homeless people would likely end up if The Jungle were fenced off.

“This is a fraction of the broader investment in homeless services and programs,” Carlyle told CHS. “But the state has a liability here.”

At the request of Mayor Ed Murray’s office, the 36th District Democrat said he introduced the $1 million into a supplemental budget (PDF) last week to address safety concerns along an I-5 greenbelt known as The Jungle — the area where two people were shot to death in January and a Seattle Fire and SPD assessment found “tragic, unsanitary conditions.” However, the plan to box in the encampment with 8,000 feet of 6-foot high fencing sounded more like designs for a prison yard, including “heavy gauge metal with razor wire wrapped around three strands of barbed wire.” Continue reading →

SPD says three teens arrested in Seattle’s ‘Jungle’ murders

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Police took three teenagers into custody Monday night for last week’s fatal shooting in The Jungle area below I-5 known for homeless encampments and drug use.

Police arrested the three — age 13, 16 and 17 — “in connection with last week’s fatal shooting at a homeless encampment in the Beacon Hill greenbelt,” SPD announced in a brief update on the case. Officers took the suspects into custody on Monday just after 5 PM on 4th Ave S near an I-90 onramp. Continue reading →

Two killed, three injured in ‘Jungle’ shooting

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The wooded greenbelt below the confluence of I-90 and I-5 was the scene of a deadly shooting Tuesday night that killed two and sent three more to the hospital.

UPDATE (2/1/16): Seattle Police arrested three teenage suspects — ages 13, 16, 17 — six days after the incident. Officers took the suspects into custody on Monday just after 5 PM on 4th Ave S near an I-90 onramp.

Original Report: Police searched the area known as The Jungle where many homeless encampments are located. There were no arrests:

Detectives continue to investigate tonight’s shooting and believe the five victims were specifically targeted.

Two men were killed in the incident and one woman remains in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. One man and a woman are also in serious condition.

Police are asking anyone with any information about the case to call SPD’s Violent Crimes tip line at (206) 233-5000.

Tuesday’s killings came amid debate over chronic areas of illegal camping in Seattle and on a night when Mayor Ed Murray was scheduled to broadcast a live address on homelessness in the city. Seattle is slated to spend more than $47 million on homelessness in 2016.

The greenbelt area and state property around I-5 is heavily used by campers throughout the city — including below Capitol Hill and the downtown convention center and on the south end of the East Precinct around Yesler Terrace. In March 2015, a homeless woman was shot to death in the greenbelt area below Yesler Terrace. Though sometimes described in nightmarish terms by law enforcement, the areas can be places of shelter and safety for some. The persistent use of these areas has lead some to call for more resources to make the camps safer and better deal with the trash and human waste.

In September, CHS reported that SPD was ready to begin enforcing no trespassing on state land along I-5 without the presence of a state official under a new agreement with WSDOT.

 

Woman dies in I-5 homeless camp shooting

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Detectives are investigating after a woman was shot to death early Saturday morning in an area where homeless people camp along I-5 below Yesler Terrace.

The SPD report on the incident near 8th and Yesler is below. The woman in her 40s was shot multiple times inside a camp on the northern edges of The Jungle, the greenbelt that runs below the freeway. Continue reading →