Homeless-Involved Killings Rose In Seattle In 2018: SPD

SEATTLE, WA — The number of homeless people involved in homicides in 2018 as either victims or perpetrators rose sharply compared to 2017, according to Seattle police. Out of 32 homicides recorded in 2018, 12 involved a homeless person, up from just two in 2017.

In interviews Monday, Seattle Lt. Mike Kebba and Chief of Investigations Deanna Nollette referred to the crimes as having a "homeless nexus," and some involved a victim or perpetrator suffering from addiction or mental illness. They also said that the harsh conditions of living on the street can contribute to a rise in violence among the homeless community.

One 2018 victim was Daniel Alberto, 26, a homeless man who lived in North Seattle. The man accused of killing him, John Thomas Davis, 55, had an ongoing feud with Alberto, and the homeless in general, according to prosecutors. Davis is facing a second-degree murder charge, and his trial begins on March 26.

"Davis has harbored significant animosity towards the victim Alberto and the local homeless community for months. Regarding the homeless population in his neighborhood, Davis told an acquaintance that 'I might have to take extreme action against them in order to protect myself,'" charging documents say. "Regarding Alberto specifically, Davis warned 'we’re going to do something about this, seriously.'"

Kebba said that police are seeing situations where the homeless are targets of vandalism, threats, and sometimes violence. Police are not characterizing any 2018 killing involving a homeless person as a hate or bias crime, however.

Seattle police commanders generally can't take a position on the city's homelessness policies - for example, safe RV lots or safe-use sites. But they do acknowledge that problems like mental illness and drug addiction cannot be fixed solely by arresting people.

"If we arrest a person and they have a problem, whatever it is, and they get out in one day, ten days, 100 days, 8 months, they still have a problem," Chief Carmen Best said last week talking to homeless advocates, Crosscut reported.

Last year was a record year for homeless deaths in King County in general. An estimated 191 homeless died in 2018, according to the King County Medical Examiner. That's a 13 percent increase from the number who died in 2017. There are also more homeless on the streets too. The 2018 point-in-time in King County revealed 12,112 people living homeless, a 4 percent increase over 2017.

The spike in homeless-involved killings comes as Seattle police look back on a record year for homicides. There were 32 homicides in Seattle in 2018, the highest number in a decade. The department also solved fewer homicides in 2018 with a clearance rate of 57 percent, compared to 96 percent in 2016, and 87 percent in 2017.

In other types of violent crime: there were five domestic-violence related murders in 2018, the same as 2017. There was an increase in killings related to a bar or nightclub from three to five in 2018. In one incident last July, Clemente Morales III, 34, was killed in a confrontation outside the Showbox Sodo.

There were also some positive signs. There were no hate-crime murders in Seattle last year. And gang-related killings are on the decline. Nollette attributed that to the department smashing-up a South Seattle gang with a history of violence. And only about half the killings last year — 17 — involved a firearm. Typically, about three-quarters of killings in a given year involve a gun.

The pace of killings in 2019 is tracking lower than last year. There have been four homicides so far compared to six last March. The most recent killing happened last Wednesday at Cal Anderson Park when Hakeem Salahud-din, 21, was shot and killed near the park's basketball courts.

Nollette said that there are too few homicides in a given year to draw conclusions about trends.