From Kens 5 News: www.kens5.com
SAN ANTONIO — It is a crime category that nobody is tracking but some mutual aid workers say it would be a good idea.
In the last two months there have been a number of violent attacks against people who are homeless.
Susana Segura of Bread and Blankets Mutual Aid, who provides food and other types of assistance to the needy in her westside neighborhood, said “I keep hearing all these stories of violence from our houseless folks. Somebody needs to be keeping track of this.”
Terri Behling, of Haven For Hope, agrees.
“Any data that could be collected would show us trends and perhaps could identify some areas that our outreach teams and the community resources can kind of come in and target those areas where the most vulnerable are located,” Behling said.
Behling said it’s no surprise that more violent crimes are being noticed.
“We do know the unsheltered are the most vulnerable in our community and unfortunately are the victims of crimes that often go unreported,” Behling said.
One of the latest attacks happened just before midnight Wednesday in the downtown area.
San Antonio Police said a houseless woman with multiple stab wounds is hospitalized and the suspect is still on the streets.
The night before, on the west side on Zarzamora, a homeless man was stabbed during a fight, according to police.
The attacks are not confined to any one section of the city.
Earlier in July, on the northwest side near Fredericksburg Road people have been shot in two different incidents.
On De Chantle, police said a homeless man emerged from a drainage culvert with a gunshot wound to his foot.
On July 5, in the 3600 block of Fredericksburg, a man told police he was climbing a fence to get to a camp when someone shot him in the leg.
“And these are the ones that you are aware of,” Segura said, adding, there are other deaths that go unreported, like a homeless man who was reportedly washed into a westside creek.
“When we were getting rain and the creeks were flooded I got a call from a distraught family member who was told that their loved one was drowned in a creekway,” Segura said.
In east San Antonio in late June, EMS took a woman to the hospital with burns. The initial report from police on the scene on Rice Road is that the victim was in a car at a homeless camp and someone shattered her window and set the car on fire. A fire department spokesman said the victim went to the hospital in Priority One condition, which means the possibility of life threatening injuries.
Segura said the area is struggling under the burden of not having enough capacity to help everyone who needs it.
“There isn’t a lot of shelter available even though it seems like there is a lot of capacity, there are more homeless people than there are beds available,” Segura said.
Behling said “We are the largest shelter in our community and we have been operating over capacity for the past two years, so when it is hot like this we are encouraging folks to find shelter anywhere they can.”
Behling said compassion is a valuable gift now, adding “It is important for everyone in our community to know we are all human and we all have a story and not to make assumptions about the folks that they see on the streets.”
Segura added, “I urge people to be kind. If you see something say something. If you think someone is having a medical emergency, try to get them help because people often call the cops on homeless people and people are unjustly criminalized not knowing what the situation is.”
Some homeless advocates say it is always safer to make donations through reputable mutual aid organizations. You can find the links to a few by clicking the link here.
