Detectives are investigating after the death of a 37-year-old man found in a Ballard encampment on Saturday was declared a homicide.
June 18th at around 12:30 p.m., police responded with Seattle Fire Department firefighters to an encampment near 14th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 56th Street for reports of a deceased person. Firefighters reported the person was obviously deceased, and life-saving measures were not possible.
Officers documented the scene and contacted the King County Medical Examiner’s Office to take custody of the body. At the time, officers and investigators at the scene did not observe anything indicating the death was suspicious.
However, the KCME later determined the cause of death to be a gunshot wound that was not immediately visible at the scene.
Homicide detectives have opened an investigation into this incident, and ask anyone with information to call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at (206) 233-5000.