Tale Of Grisly Death At Seattle Homeless Camp Appears False

SEATTLE, WA - The Seattle police department covered up a gruesome death at a North Beacon Hill homeless camp recently. Or at least that's the story a group in Seattle with an anti-homeless bent is pushing.

On Saturday night, a member of the group Safe Seattle posted on Facebook about an apparent murder at a homeless camp near the intersection of McLellan Street and 25th Avenue South. The details of the incident were graphic, although no evidence was offered that they were true.

"I don't know why it’s not a big story, but this happened a couple weeks ago. You can do a public disclosure request for [police report number] from SPD and verify it," the post read. But, the person who put up the post didn't provide the actual police report number.

"They haven’t been reporting these kinds of murders for some reason. Maybe because it wouldn’t look good for the city," the post continued.

The post also alleged that there's a killer "on the loose" in Seattle's homeless community.

Seattle police responded on Monday afternoon, confirming that there was a death on Feb. 16 along the 2800 block of 28th Avenue South - but it wasn't a homicide. And, the 2800 block of 28th Avenue South is about a 1/2 mile walk northeast of 25th and McLellan.

"The King County Medical Examiner is working to determine cause/manner of death. At this time, the case is not being investigated as a homicide, pending results of the autopsy," the department said.

But the post was shared close to 300 times over the weekend, including by Ari Hoffman, a candidate running to replace Council President Bruce Harrell in District 2. Hoffman later deleted that post.

The gruesome murder story fits with the theme of the Safe Seattle Facebook page: titillating people with tales of homeless people run amok at all costs.