Seattle police are searching for a person they say drove an SUV over tents lining a downtown Seattle sidewalk Tuesday night, the latest in a string of incidents appearing to target homeless people.
The tents on the west sidewalk of Third Avenue and James Street were unoccupied and no injuries were reported, police spokesperson Brian Pritchard said Thursday.
Someone called 911 after seeing the gray Acura SUV drive onto the sidewalk and over the tents at about 11:30 p.m., Pritchard said.
Officers nearby spotted the Acura on Second Avenue and James Street. Police attempted to pull over the driver, who sped off. Police chased after the SUV but stopped their pursuit once they learned the tents were empty, Pritchard said.
About an hour later, the Acura returned to the area and someone in the car fired a gun multiple times, Pritchard said. Officers did not find any casings or bullet marks at the scene, and no victims came forward.
The incident was among five since February that appeared to target homeless people in Seattle, killing two and injuring two others.
Alison Eisinger, executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, which represents several local organizations, said there seems to be someone targeting people experiencing homelessness in Seattle — a “horrifying” pattern she said she has seen unfold in other U.S. cities.
“The rhetoric around how public officials and others speak about people who do not have homes has real consequences for people’s lives,” Eisinger said. “When our policies treat people, human beings, our neighbors as garbage or worse … the results are tragic and sometimes fatal.”
Seattle police “are concerned” about the spate of incidents, Pritchard said.
“This is happening, it’s out there,” he said. “We are taking steps to find the suspects in these incidents of some of these things that have been happening to the unhoused community members.”
A passerby in Seattle’s Yesler Terrace neighborhood called 911 around 7 a.m. on Feb. 10 after finding a man dead from “obvious head trauma” in an alleyway in the 300 block of 12th Avenue, Pritchard wrote later that day in an online blotter post.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the man, identified as 68-year-old Paul Earnest Ewell, died from multiple sharp force injuries to his head and ruled his death a homicide, records show.
One week later, a car twice drove onto sidewalks, roughly one hour apart, early Feb. 17, injuring someone each time.
Officers first responded at 2:48 a.m. after a vehicle drove onto the sidewalk on North Dexter Avenue and struck a pedestrian crossing Harrison Street. The pedestrian dove out of the way to avoid being struck head-on before the car sped off. The injured victim was taken to Harborview Medical Center, police said.
About an hour later, someone drove onto a sidewalk and over the legs of a person sleeping on the sidewalk before driving away. The person was sleeping at 19th Avenue East and East Prospect Street, KING 5 reported. The victim was also taken to Harborview Medical Center, police said. The vehicle matched the description of the one that struck the other pedestrian earlier that morning, police said.
Less than one week later, 52-year-old Daravuth Van was found dead in an alcove outside Town Hall Seattle in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood shortly after 5 a.m. The King County Medical Examiner’s office determined Van, who was known to regularly sleep in that location, had died from a sharp force wound to the head on Feb. 22 and ruled his death a homicide, records show. Police suspect Van was asleep when someone attacked him.
Police have arrested one suspect in the five incidents, booking a 25-year-old man into King County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder in Van’s death.
Detectives were surveilling Freeway Park early March 2 in case Van’s attacker returned to the area when they saw a person walking through the park carrying a large object just before 4 a.m., Police Chief Adrian Diaz said at a news conference.
When detectives got out of their vehicles, the man took off running, discarding what turned out to be an ax.
Police identified the man the next day and arrested him at his nearby home. He is being held on $5 million bail.