Buy the shooter a house.

Crimony. Was it worth it, murderers?

From the Seattle Times article:

"The witness said Fats is the most established and well-to-do of The Jungle residents, a man known to invite women into his tent to get high.

Fats’ tent is two to three times the size of others nearby. Around his tent are a couch, fire pit, altar, propane grill, generator, a tent for storage and many bicycles."

I'm sure this "well-to-do" homeless drug dealer, "Fats," must have used the proceeds from his illicit business to buy that grill, generator and all of those bicycles - versus having his addict clients use them as payment, after stealing them from the neighborhoods. What do you think the odds are that the tents he used to store all of his loot were donated to help the homeless?

Another feel-good speech from Ed. Don't actually expect him to provide any specific plans or achievable goals, just know he's gonna kiss the boo-boo and make it all better.

@4: what do you propose that he should do?

kick some ass? level the place? put the homeless on buses to SF? put them in all the vacant apartments we've got lying about?

@4 I would propose that our leaders treat the situation as a complex crisis and not a political platform. I liked what Ed said about transitioning to data-driven, outcome-oriented approaches that seek long-term solutions, but we're just supposed to take him at his word that this vague non-plan will finally begin to improve our position. Meanwhile he criticizes the city council because they're supposedly taking the issue too seriously. I feel like Ed spends more energy trying to appeal to voters than searching for solutions.

Personally I don't think things will get better unless economic inequality is addressed.

Perhaps @4 would prefer Mayor Murray use "Cruz Control" to deal with this scourge.

@5 My thoughts are the same as yours. Seattle is an attractive place to live despite the rain. the homeless know this and are coming here for handouts.

@1 thru @8 -- Is anyone here tracking the story?

With all due caveats re early speculative conclusions on developing stories, it seems that:
1) The perpetrators were not homeless.
2) The victims were drug-incvolved, got women high, and took stolen goods in payment, just like non-homeless low-level dealers all over the city.
3) The homicides are undistinguished form the majority of Seattle homicides over the past decade except for their location.

The City IS criminalizing homelessness when it sweeps people out of encampments and destroys their tents and personal possessions and DOESN'T find them anywhere else to sleep. That's how the DOJ has characterized criminalizing homelessness, and that's how HUD (from which Seattle gets most of the money they say they spend on homelessness) characterizes criminalizing homelessness. The City can keep saying over and over they're not doing that, but that's just not true.

Why doesn't the city just dig up some trees in these green belts and make them official homeless camps? We've got the space, so why not just go in and make room and have the area with garbage collection/toilets/police/social workers. Then sweep the dangerous camps along the I-5 or know dangerous camps like the jungle.

@5

I'm with you. If he just banned the guns this would have never happened.

That's sad that instead of fighting back and monitoring the terrorism threat, police now has not deal with some drug dealers from inside...

Who could have ever thought that there may be people taking advantage of homeless people in lawless camps with names like "The Jungle?"

@6: saying the situation won't change until income inequality is addressed is like saying american gun violence won't change until mental health is addressed: don't hold your breath.

@9 i've been tracking - that's why I called them murderers. the eyewitness speculated they were Polynesian.

@16: I must be doing something right if I irritate you that much.

Those folks in the Jungle are gonna have to work hard to draw close to the largest murdering gang in the city, the SPD.

Yes there is a homeless problem but this particular problem is a result of the Hamo tribe not the homeless.

@18: I don't think anyone knows what to do, short term or long term. there aren't available homes, and there isn't money available to build them.

we spent it all destroying Iraq.