Two killed, three wounded in shooting near Seattle homeless camp

[January 27, 2016]    (Reuters) - Two people were killed and three wounded in a shooting near a homeless encampment in Seattle late on Tuesday, and police were searching for two suspects who fled into a nearby wooded area, authorities said.

The shooting occurred around 7:15 p.m. local time near a large homeless encampment called the Jungle south of downtown, the Seattle Police Department said in a statement.

Two were confirmed dead and three were hospitalized. The victims suffered gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen and back, police said.

At a press conference, Assistant Police Chief Robert Merner said the shootings were not random, the Seattle Times reported.

“We have reason to believe it was very targeted," he said.

Two suspects were being sought, police said.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, who earlier in the evening had been giving a speech on the city's efforts to address homelessness, described the Jungle encampment as “unmanageable and out of control for almost two decades," the newspaper reported.

Murray has previously declared homelessness a "full-blown crisis" in Seattle.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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