Seattle Police report an officer-involved shooting near the site of this mornings eviction of homeless campers living under I-5.
The Seattle Police officer who shot a man in the Jungle was on site to take part in the eviction of homeless campers living in the area, Chief Kathleen O'Toole said. HG

A Seattle Police officer shot and killed a man in the homeless encampment known as the Jungle Tuesday, according to the Seattle Police Department.

In an update from the scene, Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said two "veteran officers" who were on site to help clear the encampment encountered two men fighting, one reportedly armed with a knife. An officer shot the man with the knife and the other man suffered a knife wound on his hand, according to police. O'Toole said she did not know if the man with the knife threatened the officers with it. Both men were transported to Harborview, where the man who had been shot later died.

Tuesday morning, authorities began an eviction and clearing of the Jungle. O'Toole said that while the officers were on site because of that sweep, she believes the incident "did not relate in any way" to the cleanup. She cautioned that information was still preliminary.

"I think it underscores the danger in this particular area," O'Toole said, though she could not confirm whether the victims lived in the Jungle.

A spokesperson for the Union Gospel Mission, which has been doing outreach in the Jungle for months leading up to Tuesday's sweep, told The Stranger Gospel Mission outreach workers saw the altercation that led to the shooting and knew the two men who were involved. She said the injured man is a resident of the area and the man police killed was a drug dealer who frequents the area but does not live there. An SPD spokesperson said he could not yet confirm those details.

Neither officer was injured. The officer who shot the man will be placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. In a press release, the department said detectives from the Force Investigation Team, crime scene investigators, and representatives from the Office of Professional Accountability responded to the scene.

According to the SPD, the shooting happened in a wooded area east of Airport Way South and South Stacy Street. That's just one block from the entrance to the Jungle where reporters were briefed Tuesday morning on plans for the sweep. The city refers to the area commonly called the Jungle as the East Duwamish Greenbelt.

In a statement Tuesday evening, Mayor Ed Murray said work clearing the area would continue after the investigation into the shooting is complete. "Today’s operation in the Greenbelt was needed," Murray said, "both because of the long history of public safety issues in the area and because of the long-overdue work the Washington Department of Transportation needs to do on Interstate 5."

The Seattle Times spoke to a man who said he heard the shots from about a half block away:

This story is developing and will be updated.