2 found dead inside tent in Westlake months after fatal fire at same encampment
A man and a woman were found dead inside a tent in Westlake on Monday, months after another person died in an RV fire at the same encampment, authorities said.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the 1200 block of Huntley Drive — near the 110 Freeway and Downtown Los Angeles — around 7:20 p.m. and found two bodies, according to a department spokesperson. The L.A. County medical examiner's office is working to determine how they died. Police are not investigating the deaths as homicides, the spokesperson said.
The woman was identified as 46-year-old Lucrecia Macias Barajas, according to a spokesperson for the medical examiner.
The man was in his 30s, and his identity is being withheld until authorities can reach his family, the spokesperson said.
KTLA News reported that Barajas' family members found her body after they were unable to reach her for several days and tore open her tent, which was locked from the inside.
ABC7 News captured video of Animal Services picking up Barajas' dogs from the encampment Monday night. A spokesperson for Animal Services said the department responded to a request from the LAPD to retrieve two dogs from the encampment — a pit-bull mix and a shepherd mix — and took them to North Central Animal Shelter.
A man living nearby told KTLA that his dogs had been attacked by dogs living in the encampment, which he said has caused persistent problems in the neighborhood.
'This place has been a danger zone,' the man told the outlet. 'People don't feel safe, and nothing is ever done to clear it for good.'
Read more: 24 fires a day: Surge in flames at L.A. homeless encampments a growing crisis
On Jan. 7, a person was found dead inside a burned vehicle at the encampment. A second person, a 38-year-old man, was taken to a hospital in the incident, Los Angeles Fire Department Spokesperson Margaret Stewart said.
The death rate among people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County increased by 55% between 2019 and 2021, an uptick public health officials have attributed to a surge in fentanyl overdoses.
In 2023, 2,508 people experiencing homelessness died in L.A. — which is equivalent to 6.9 deaths a day. Drug and alcohol overdoses were the leading cause of death, accounting for 45% of all fatalities.
Encampment fires are also a contributor to deaths among people living on the streets or in vehicles.
From 2018 to 2020, the number of fires related to homelessness nearly tripled, accounting for roughly 38% of all fires the department responded to in that time frame, according to a Times analysis.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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