Nearly 20% of Seattle shootings occur near homeless encampments

Seattle officials say nearly 20% of all shooting in the city through September were connected to an unauthorized encampment or a homeless person.

The finding are in the latest update of the city's One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan.

Out of 573 reports of shootings and shots fired,101 reports were in connection to homelessness, which represents about 18% of total cases being near encampments throughout Seattle.

The office of Mayor Bruce Harrell, a Democrat, says the 100-plus shooting average to roughly three shots fired per week in connection to homeless camps.

Downtown Seattle and the Chinatown International-District are the two districts in King County, which includes Seattle, with the largest concentration of the homeless.

Out of the 573 reports of shootings and shots fired through the first nine months of the year, 61 occurred in the two districts combined, according to the Seattle Police Department's crime dashboard. That represents 10% of the total number of cases of shootings and shots fired throughout the city.

Earlier in October, Seattle announced an emergency operations center wa sup and running. It is located in the heart of the Chinatown District where tents are visibly prominent.

Marc Dones, the CEO of the authority, said the command center has already identified over 300 units of available housing and to date has engaged with over 650 people in need.