Second murder in three months at Texas homeless camp adds to locals’ fears over lawlessness
Austin’s homeless camps have been rocked by two murders in three months, adding to the public’s fear about the tent cities being a breeding ground for drug use, violence and other illegal activity.
An unidentified man was killed after getting into a fight with another man, cops said Monday, adding a suspect has been arrested but their identity has yet to be released.
The camp in North Austin is just one of several throughout the city, all of which are illegal.
They have been allowed to operate by Texas capital’s Democratic leadership, despite a voter ban on homeless encampments in May 2021.
Elsewhere, a 200-person camp has sprung up on the south side of the city less than a football field away from Larry Maddalena’s chiropractic practice.
A body was found at that encampment in April, according to local reports.
“I would say, ‘Someone is going to die, but that’s already happened,” a frustrated Maddalena told The Post.
“The city still is not moving fast enough, in my eyes. I don’t know what the next step is — multiple people dying?”
The local business owner explained the camp near in him as been around since 2021, but swelled in size to hundreds of people in 2022.
“A guy on Friday was out in the parking lot swatting at air and yelling at himself,” he added.
“If you put him with someone else who might have a mental [health] and/or drug issue, it’s highly probable that something is going to happen.”
Maddalena claims he and other business owners have seen drug needles littering the encampment and believe the general public is only hearing about violent episodes when someone dies.
The police department did not respond to The Post’s request on what, if anything, they plan to do increase security at neighboring stores or clear out the camps.
After local filmmaker Jaime Hammonds recently documented how the 200-person camp in South Austin has destroyed what were once considered “crown jewel” hiking trials, the city finally stepped in.
Homeless people are being relocated to shelters, but only if they agree to be sent.
Those who don’t want to volunteer to go to a shelter are being allowed to remain there, despite piles of trash and human waste in the area.
An elected official said they had found evidence of fires set in the wooded area surrounding the encampment, which is extremely dangerous during the very dry summer months in central Texas.
“There are many people living there in immediate need of emergency shelter and resources,” Mayor Pro Tem Paige Ellis told Fox News.
“With evidence of campfires for cooking or warmth, wildfire protection was a critical priority.”
Technically, police officers could go in and force the homeless to leave but the city has also struggled with dealing with the homeless too and its police department is currently understaffed by nearly 400 cops.
The city defunded the Austin Police Department in 2020 — slashing its budget by a third — only to refund it again a year later.
Anti-cop sentiment in Austin has resulted in a public safety crisis, with most 911 calls diverted to the non-emergency 311 line.
Business owners near the camps say the worst case scenario due to the city’s lack of action could result in a fire spreading to their businesses.
“There’s propane tanks in the area that fires could spread to,” Maddalena said.
“I don’t even want to think about what would happen then.”
