Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting death of a 79-year-old man who was found in a camper parked at the north end of the Ballard Bridge on 15th Ave. NW.
Engine 18 was dispatched a report of an unresponsive man yesterday at 6 p.m. When medics first evaluated the body, it appeared he had died several days ago of natural causes, SPD said. But when the medical examiner arrived, “a single bullet hole was discovered on the body,” explains SPD’s Mark Jamieson. “A cursory search of the camper did not reveal a discarded weapon.”
Investigators were called to the scene to process the camper, looking for evidence. The case has been assigned to homicide detectives, who ask anyone who may have any information on the case to please contact the police department.
A year ago, a woman was killed in a stabbing in an RV in the 900 block of Leary Way, about a half mile away from this latest incident.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
terrible. this is also in the general area the poor woman was found stuffed into a shopping cart after she OD’ed.
the current approach is not safe for residents or campers.
Great to see these folks doing their neighborly part to bring up the neighborhood.
Anyone wonder how in the world you miss seeing someone who was shot?
It can be quite difficult to find a gunshot entry wound. If it’s not bleeding profusely (they don’t always) and there’s no exit wound, you would really need to know you were looking for a wound to have any chance of finding one.
Neighbor told me “as long as this stuff stays south of 65th she’s not worried”. HUH. Perhaps being everybody here voted to bring us to this point you’re all afraid to see this and what’s happening to our once fair city. Just keep pulling that “d” lever, that’s working so very well, right? Becoming just another large American city with giant problems is the plan, right? Yanking your horse blinkers or raising taxes won’t fix this mess here either. Chaos is apparently good for business around here. Look, a squirrel.
I live in the area. I don’t know how to get anyone to care about our neighborhood. Lots of residents here along with business and light industry, so we are deemed a spot for endless RVs and camps. It is not the neighborhood it used to be and we will unfortunately probably see more of this kind of thing. I email Mike O’Brien regularly, but have never once gotten a response.
Seattle has two set of rules. Homeowners and renters must either sort their recyclables and food wastes, or risk being fined by the city. For those who park a car outside their residence, there is a 24-hour parking limit, or the risk of ticketing and/or impoundment. The homeless are not subject to the city’s trash recycling rules. In fact, the city has recently determined that tickets given to the homeless for littering are unenforceable. It seems apparent that the 24-hour parking rule was not enforced amongst the RV encampments where this fellow met his demise. Failed candidate Cary Moon advocated opening Seattle’s parks to the homeless for camping, and her view is not alone. There is a never-ending supply of additional down on their luck folks from other cities and states, but eventually, this will overwhelm our parks and spaces beneath our bridges.
@Moon Unit
Agreed. Sadly, it looks as if no amount of filth, crime, or outrageous double standards can penetrate Seattle’s slavish devotion to Far Left ideology. Massive exodus from Bay Area? SoCal a massive tent ghetto and middle class taxed to death? Nope, we’ll keep on emulating their stupidity and scratch our heads about causes. Time to raise taxes and hire some consultants!
Personal anecdote: a friend went on vacation for few days and returned only to find her car towed. She was fined $100+ on top of the $250 towing fee – and no she isn’t wealthy, she works in the service industry. Hmmm. That’s what she gets for working for a living!
@California — What were the circumstances behind the towing? Had she stayed beyond the 72-hour time? Expired meter? Parked in crosswalk or too close to driveway?
Personally, I’m pissed that RVs are not held to the standards of the law. But that doesn;t mean I think those laws should just go away. If your friend broke the law, it’s a bummer, but she ought to be on the hook for that.
@Pork Pie
Broke the law? Hahah. That’s rich. No, in fact, her neighbor probably moved the car too close to a condo construction “no parking” zone, or the notorious pink mafia meter maid brigade decided it was 3 inches too close to an unused driveway. You must not be from here if vague signs, aggressive meter maids, and spontaneous “no parking” zones are in any way out of the ordinary.
Once again, if it had been a giant, rotting, meth-y sh*tmobile I doubt she would’ve been towed.
It appears the RV where the individual was shot was not in a “RV” encampment but in a Commercial PARKING lot. So saying it was a derelict or just a person taking up space was not the case. Though it is a few blocks away from “designated” areas for such as allowed and than disallowed. From my understanding he kept too himself but he ensure his area was “kept decent” in appearances. So just saying all homeless are the scourge is not right, remember they are “HUMAN” also who may have come upon hard times mentally.fiscally, or physically. So “rants” about “why me when they don’t” doesn’t always apply on the news item. The topic news item — was a small part of society and did not have a “DIRECT relation with STABBING a few blocks away previous year other than , yes it was a tragedy – and yes it happen in “relative” same community.
“Who may have come upon hard times” means:
They tried Meth, got addicted to Meth, stole from their family and friends so often, none of them want to ever talk to them again. Then they moved here away from their previous life in Spokane. After moving here, they continued to steal to support their habit. When offered the opportunity dozens of times over to go into rehab or a shelter, they said no. Along the way, they tagged our stores, street signs and houses, spew refuge in the streets and in parks and gardens, shat, peed, and threw up in peoples yards and in parking lots, showed up in our emergency rooms multiple times for over doses costing us tens of thousands of dollars. Then ended up dying in their broken down meth-lab RV home.
Then some smitten do good-er named OH wants to wealth shame us for thinking they aren’t a problem, and that Settle should be the home of all the scourge west of Montana and north of LA.
Towing a car that looks to be in decent shape and is current on its tabs will most likely generate impoundment fees for the city treasury. Towing a filthy methy RV or some rusty sedan packed to the gills with trash will not likely result in the owner paying for its return.
@Phil
@Inverse
The problem with Seattle is that many newcomers are simply too sheltered to understand the reality of hard drug addiction. They don’t notice the theft of the drug use unless they actually see a needle or crack pipe in an addict’s hands, or witness them *in the process* of committing other crimes. Anybody who has grown up or spent time around these types sees this constantly, daily.
I suspect that the purging of the working class over the last decade has created the perfect storm of idiot “leaders” and naive voters. A neighboring business was robbed by their own employee a few months ago after he was fired for bad behavior. Turns out he was a tweaker, etc. He was caught and convicted. These people will steal from, and sometimes even harm their friends and loved ones – so the idea that they will “play nice” with strangers while wandering our neighborhoods is flat out insanity. This whole situation in general is pathetic.
Clearly this man did not deserve harm, but we need to look at the decisions our city has made and how they have created a mess that looks to be getting past the point of remedy without some kind of federal intervention/national guard mobilization. Taxes won’t fix this. Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. These community college kids who have their selfie marches every month should be more angry their streets are unsafe.
Inverse – smitten :). It not I don’t agree or condone the Methodology personage, I’ve been exposed to my fair share of “addictions”/abusers, survivors. Before you start calling me a “Bleeding heart” it was more responding to the initial Story… That Man shoot in a RV Camper — was parked in a Business Establishment — were they were symbiotic in their relationship and living arrangements. I can go back to the “Hostels, Runaway, Drug/Body trafficking, personally know convicts with Drug as well as Military and what the ravages of those times do to a person. I would rather having a NEW TOPIC in discussion “Inverse” on homeless, tents, rv’s and Addictions .. as the dialogue — which is needed but we can only say so much they someone in political office gets a Sense of .. budget/safety concerns and let’s get this OUT OF MY NEIGHBHORHOOD and look to the next TAC structure or protests/demonstrations and what is right or wrong. California Uber – I agree with your comments and views…. it was again just the Thread going against this story. Living in close vicinity to this location, knowing a little of the back story was my issue. I have lived through-out the states thanks to growing up in a military family — as well as being in myself. I have couched surf – relatives putting up with me. Gone route of temp job placement gone to school and acquire a more permanent job. Having a family now — I hope the compassion and understanding is shared and tolerance not acceptance is the norm. What we do about it — what do we say about—- that always been the case over the years… and there are no clear cut answers unfortunately is what I have to say. Be it Wealth — be it barely getting by… it’s the NOT in My Neighborhood which gets me the most.
“I email Mike O’Brien regularly, but have never once gotten a response.”
Tell him you’re a gender fluid, one-armed midget and person of color and he’ll send the equity fire squad right over.
This was not some benevalent old grandpa. He hung around hard core criminals conducted business with them .Never worked enough quarters to earn social security booze was more important .Harrased and made up lies about people In general a real pos
The Nickelsville public camping protests brought this whole problem here, and it is still here.
You give notice, and then sweep, and then put people in jail or issue citations, and run background checks on all of them, because: THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW!
1) Enforce the law. (Loitering, camping in public places, harassment on streets, in the library,
definitely on public transportation, in the grocery stores, in front of the grocery stores. In bus stops.
Turn the bus stops around, and take the lights out of them. No-one wants to sit staring and listening to a busy street under lights in their eyes. Put benches back in bus stops. Don’t build the village around the idiot. Take down fencing under bridges. ENFORCE THE LAW. ENFORCE THE LAW!
Public intoxication is a citation. With that you can detain someone and run a background check. With more jails, you can put them in jail.
2) More jails. Big modern jails. More mental hospitals (for drugs and other mental illnesses.)
3) There is already infrastructure for the homeless! It’s called “HOUSING!” Seattle Housing Authority!!
HOUSING and Urban Development. If they don’t want to go fill out an application for HOUSING, take them to jail, and run their backgrounds. Drive them to the national or Federal forest where they can play “I’m living outside!” legally.
4) If you don’t want to weed a garden, then you don’t deserve to eat out of it.
5) Last but not least, it’s not only the “homeless.” It’s METH. METH METH METH. Those people are so crazy for so long, they will break into your house even if they know your home, and sit there and refuse to leave, if you (ask them to?) THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS ON METH. It is very cheap, it drives you nuts, and it lasts a LONG time. They deal it out of and around the Ballard library.
6) Churches with that pay NO PROPERTY taxes are inviting these people to our neighborhoods, they have almost no local congregation. Nationally, they have deep pockets to keep sending people to mission overseas, and feed the local drug addicts and thieves. Locally, they pay NO TAXES, and invite CRIME into our neighborhood.
7) Homelessness? Housing! Seattle Housing Authority! It’s already there!!!! Tear down all camps!!!!!!
8) Prosecute black on white hate crime, prosecute people standing in the middle of the street without permit. Don’t ignore the new Female on Male hate either. You are not fighting bigotry, you are CREATING bigots. You think you are special? No one wants to hear it, or see your face. Pay that very basic price, to begin with. No one likes you when you are Loud, Violent, Belligerent and think you are special because you are a color or because you are ugly or because you were assaulted.
shocking