Trial Of Suspects In 'The Jungle' Shooting Begins

SEATTLE, WA - The trial of two teens accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at Seattle's Jungle homeless encampment begins Monday. Five people were shot and two died during the January 2016 drug robbery underneath I-5.

James Taafulisia, 20, and Jerome Taafulisia, 18, allegedly went to a part of the Jungle called The Caves on Jan. 26, 2016, intending to rob a drug dealer to recover $500 the drug dealer apparently owed to the brothers' mother.

The two brothers, along their 13-year-old brother, walked up to a campfire where the target, Phat Nguyen, was sitting. They allegedly shot Nguyen first, according to court records, and then continued to shoot others nearby. Amy Jo Shinault and Tracy Bauer were shot, and James Tran was shot and killed. As the gunmen left the scene, one fired into a tent and killed a woman inside.

The shooting marked a turning point in the city's approach to homelessness, beginning an era of highly visible sweeps of homeless encampments. The Jungle encampment once stretched from I-90 down to Georgetown under I-5, but was dismantled in 2016.

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