Data released by the city of Seattle reveals that homeless encampments are seeing a significant percentage of shots fired in 2022.
According to the latest update from the One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan, nearly 20 percent of all citywide shootings/shots fired through September were connected to an unauthorized encampment or a homeless person.
Out of 573 reports of shootings and shots fired, the city states that 101 reports were in connection to homelessness. That represents about 18 percent of total cases being near encampments throughout Seattle.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office said in a statement that the 101 reports represent an average of three shots fired per week in connection to homeless camps.
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s “Partnership for Zero Campaign” is a collaboration of city officials to find solutions to homelessness. Its initial focus is in Downtown Seattle and the Chinatown International-District.
Felicia Salcedo, the executive director of We Are In, previously stated that the two districts represent the largest concentration of the homeless in King County.
Out of the 573 reports of shootings and shots fired through the first nine months of the year, 61 occurred in the Downtown and Chinatown districts combined, according to the Seattle Police Department’s crime dashboard. That represents 10 percent of the total number of cases of shootings and shots fired throughout the city.
Earlier in October, Seattle announced an emergency operations center was up and running. It is located in the heart of the Chinatown District where tents are visibly prominent.
Marc Dones, the CEO of the authority, said the command center has already identified over 300 units of available housing and to date has engaged with over 650 people in need.
