Fight with machete, BB gun at Tacoma homeless camp draws large police response
A fight with machetes at a Tacoma homeless encampment Tuesday drew a large police response.
Someone called 911 just after 10 a.m. to report two men fighting with guns and machetes at South 8th Street and South Yakima Avenue.
Eight officers responded to the scene and broke up the argument. They seized one machete and one BB gun.
No one was injured. The men fighting were identified, a police report was taken, but no one was arrested.
“None of the involved parties wanted to be victims,” police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said.
It was unclear what started the fight.
The encampment at 8th and Yakima has been the subject of complaints by some Tacoma residents and a is known site in need of services.
The site began with a few tents in February 2020. The number of people and tents have fluctuated, at one point consisting of more than 20 tents.
Historically, many people living at the camp have denied services from the city’s Homeless Outreach Team. The city of Tacoma is working to identify locations for additional shelter sites prior to removal of the encampment.
City leaders have previously said they must be careful because a 2019 Ninth Circuit court decision declared people cannot be criminalized for being homeless and must be offered available and adequate shelter space before being asked to move from public property.
Tacoma has a process to remove encampments that pose public health risks but have largely halted that process due in the past year to curb any potential spread of COVID-19.
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 2:04 PM.
