Deaths of trio come as advocates say homeless people across America are being increasingly targeted

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

The killings of three homeless people this month in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, could be connected, and come at a time when the homeless are being subject to increasing violence and homeless issues are becoming a dangerous political football.

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Last Friday, investigators found 50-year-old Tony Williams shot dead on the porch of a vacant home about two blocks away from where two other homeless people, Christina Fowler, 53, and Gregory Corcoran, 40, had been found dead two weeks earlier.

Police officials are now investigating whether the three deaths are linked.

The deaths in Louisiana’s capital come as homeless advocates worry about an increase in violence against homeless people, and after Donald Trump used the homeless crisis in California as a political stick to try and attack top Democrats such as House speaker Nancy Pelosi and California governor Gavin Newsom.

Last week Trump attacked Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who has led the effort to impeach him, and told her to “clean up her filthy dirty district & help the homeless there”. And on Christmas Day, Trump launched a Twitter tirade against Gavin Newsom for his “bad job” on “taking care of the homeless population in California”.

Trump’s criticisms came as violent attacks targeting homeless people have risen in California in the past year. In Los Angeles, there have been at least eight incidents in which people have thrown makeshift explosives or flammable liquids on homeless people or their tents, according to officials and the Los Angeles Times.

Trump’s repeated tweets about homelessness have been labeled “vile and reprehensible” by activists.

The killings in Baton Rouge are likely to heighten the sense that homeless people are becoming more vulnerable.

Amanda Owens says she is part of Baton Rouge’s homeless population and she told the Advocate newspaper the recent crimes have put the community on edge.

“Do I have a target on my back or what?” she said.

Baton Rouge police are investigating links between the crimes, although it is not yet certain whether homeless people are being targeted, Chief Murphy Paul said Friday. He added that steps are being taken to protect the community, and local shelters are expanding services in the wake of the violence, the Advocate reported Monday.

One such shelter, St Vincent de Paul, has increased its capacity, executive director Michael Acaldo said.

Darrell Blanks, 63, has been staying at a nearby shelter for the past four years and said the killings have made him uneasy.

“Someone’s got hatred in their heart for the homeless,“ Blanks told the newspaper.