King County judge says enough is enough following fatal stabbing at City Hall park

SEATTLE - It’s business as usual in Seattle’s City Hall Park. But that’s the problem. A sprawling homeless encampment continues to thrive alongside trash and needles, right next to the King County Courthouse. And the harassment by some of the people living here is an on going issue.

It’s hard tell if anyone here even realizes someone was stabbed to death in the park Thursday evening . But for Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers, enough is enough.

“In fact one of our court employees, happened on the body. Now the situation’s become more and more dangerous,” says Rogers.

He’s been sounding the alarm for months about the on-going issues related to this encampment.

“We get reports of assaults, 2 to 5 a week from our own employees, people being yelled at, people being hit,” says Rogers.

He’s now wondering if this homicide will finally force the city to act.

“I don’t want to be in a position of blaming somebody, but all I want is action. That’s all I want,” says Rogers

We reached out to Parks and Recreation and the Mayor’s office to find out if a sweep of the park is now inevitable. But no one got back to us.

“A lot of our female employees talk about feeling unsafe. I shouldn’t be working on making sure nobody gets stabbed on the way to the King County courthouse. that should not be part of my job description,” says Rogers.

As the court tries to resume normal operations, Rogers says he’s concerned about the backlog of cases being further delayed, especially if witnesses and jurors avoid the area.

“The concern is that they won’t show up. The concern is they’ll be too scared to come downtown,” says Rogers.

But Luna Wang and Shannon Lin needed to get married Friday at the courthouse, so they steered clear of the park.

“Everything is great in here. But on the way it’s not so great,” says Lin.

The judge says he’s encouraged the King County Council is working with the city and trying to find housing for people living at the park. It’s unclear exactly when normal operations will resume at the King County Courthouse.