Kent Police are investigating the death of a 54-year-old man at a homeless encampment as a homicide.
Officers responded at about 12:20 p.m. Tuesday, March 28 to assist Puget Sound Fire and medics with an unconscious man found at a homeless encampment in the 10900 block of SE 256th Street, according to a Kent Police statement.
Medics were treating the man when officers arrived. Initial information from fire personnel reported that the man was unconscious and unresponsive with obvious trauma to his head, according to police.
First responders used CPR to stabilize the man. Paramedics transported the man to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for further evaluation and care, but the man died at the hospital, according to police.
Detectives responded to the scene and gathered information from witnesses and collected evidence. There is limited information to the investigation in its early stages, police said.
“Due to the nature of the injuries sustained by the male, this investigation is being treated as a homicide,” police said.
Kent has had four homicides so far in 2023. Kent had 11 homicides in 2022, 14 in 2021, eight in 2020, four in 2019 and seven in 2018.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with photos of the homeless encampment in the 10900 block of SE 256th Street.
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Kent Police are investigating the homicide of a 54-year-old man killed in a homeless encampment along SE 256th Street on the East Hill. BAILEY JO JOSIE, Sound Publishing
