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Inside Seattle’s open-air drug crisis as fentanyl ravages city and activists bail out alleged criminals
SEATTLE — Seattle’s fentanyl crisis is impossible to hide from public view, with open-air drug use, rising overdose deaths and struggling addicts highlighting the challenges facing city leaders and community advocates.
Hector, an addict, told Fox News Digital that he has been having a “hard time” and that the most common drug used in the area is “Fetty,” and cautioned young people to stay away from it.
“The younger people, don’t waste their lives on drugs,” Hector said. “It’s a waste of time, waste of money, waste of life.”
We Heart Seattle, an organization founded by Andrea Suarez in the fall of 2020 to clean up public spaces and offer resources to people in need, has tried to help Hector multiple times.
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Suarez told Fox News Digital that she believes the city, which recently elected socialist Mayor Katie Wilson in November, is not doing enough to address the crisis.
“We are the only outreach agency that’s actually advocating for people to be held accountable for their own safety and the safety of others,” Suarez said. “Because the culture here is very hands-off, live and let live. And drug users are people too, and we’re the problem. We caused the trauma because of systemic racism and poverty and capitalism and, like, all this ideology has just taken such a stronghold in Seattle, that it’s more of a do-nothing attitude by our politicians and that activists are so loud here that they will even bail people out of jail who are very harmful to the community because they are anti-incarceration of any kind.”
In an internal email obtained by Fox News Digital, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes wrote that “all charges related to drug possession and/or drug use will be diverted from prosecution to the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program,” but Wilson denied claims that her administration was changing drug enforcement policy.
Suarez said the city should pursue stronger policies to address the crisis.
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“So if you make that penalty stronger, and you can arrest a person for tenting and using narcotics in a park, suddenly six months or a year in jail may deter you from using in a public space and also accept help,” Suarez said.
“As outreach workers, you know, why do we get burned out? Because we can’t make a difference without teeth, without law, without law enforcement,” she continued. “So better legislation and stiffer penalties around using in these shared spaces and holding the low barrier properties like tiny houses and hotels and permanent supportive housing that allow drug dealers and drug using within their properties, that if they are a nuisance to the community, they should be fined and would force a good neighborhood agreement.”
Local outlet KOMO News reported on April 16 that the Syringe Services Program Health Survey found that in 2021, 93% of respondents reported injecting drugs. By 2025, however, 90% said they had smoked drugs in the previous week, while injections had dropped to 44%.
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The Roosevelt News, another local outlet, reported last year that King County recorded 1,067 drug poisoning deaths in 2023 due to fentanyl, a 47% increase from the previous year.
According to the Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington, opioid overdose death rates in King, Pierce, and Spokane Counties more than quadrupled between 2002-2004 and 2024-2025.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported in November that the agency seized roughly 3.4 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl from the two drug trafficking groups targeted in investigations in the Western District of Washington.
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“Hardcore people that were big-time opioid users that ran the streets for years and years, if not decades, will tell you that drugs on top of drugs isn’t how you help a drug addict,” Suarez said. “Abstinence is how you help if you truly want to help, not thousands of dollars of medication. Often that ends up being a subsidy for the drug addict, only really just to kind of enable them and entrap them into addiction further, which we’ve seen firsthand as well.”
Suarez also stressed that the work of some local left-wing activist groups is making it more difficult to curtail homelessness and crimes committed by those looking for quick cash to get their next fix. She told Fox News Digital that these groups are often against incarceration of any kind, regardless of the alleged crime.
The Northwest Community Bail Fund (NCBF) in Seattle, along with other similar groups, often pays bail for individuals unable to afford it, aiming to reduce the harms of the cash bail system. These groups, highlighted in a CBS News story, claim that cash bail disproportionately affects low-income individuals.
Victims of violent crime have previously complained that these groups have bailed out people that are a danger to the public.
Similar to Hector, Erica is another addict that Suarez and We Heart Seattle have been trying to help.
“So this is a common barrier to accepting services and treatment is Erica doesn’t want to be separated from her dog under any circumstances,” Suarez said. “So even though we’ve offered to provide kenneling for her … we will pay for people to get their dogs kenneled while they go to treatment. And she was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ So she’s got two amputated fingers, living on a sidewalk, frostbitten nose.”
Suarez said that the tearing down of a pavilion and picnicking area at Dr. Jose Rizal Park in Seattle is symbolic of the current drug crisis.
“This pavilion is very, very bittersweet to talk about this, because this pavilion was recently torn down because it was untenable with drug use, fire damage. People were just filleted over here,” Suarez said. “It looked like a tombstone. And so the neighbors advocated for it to get demolished as the roof was burnt down. And so this is what’s left.”
Only stubs of the pavilion and scorched cement remain.
“It really is very symbolic of what has become of our parks in Seattle with this type of a view, children’s playgrounds nearby, that drugs and fentanyl use and their civil liberties are really taking precedence and priority, really priority over the civil liberties,” Suarez added. “And so this was very, very hard to see this get demolished, just not even a couple months ago.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson and King County Public Health for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
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Barricaded suspect faces murder charges after 2 doctoral students vanished from campus, 1 body remains missing
The towel-wearing suspect who barricaded himself inside a home amid an intense SWAT standoff following the disappearance of two University of South Florida doctoral students was charged Saturday with two counts of murder.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, “is additionally facing two counts of murder in the first degree with a weapon (premeditated) in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy,” the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Saturday.
“Evidence was presented to the State Attorney’s Office, resulting in further charges against Abugharbieh. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we will not be commenting on the findings in the case,” the sheriff’s office said.
“At this time, the search for Bristy continues,” the update added. “Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is asked to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at (813) 247-8200.”
Abugharbieh was initially arrested on Friday on charges of unlawfully holding or move a dead human body in unapproved conditions, failure to report death to medical examiner or law enforcement (intent to conceal), tampering with physical evidence, false imprisonment, battery.
Authorities discovered human remains near the Howard Frankland Bridge. They were positively identified Friday as belonging to Limon. Bristy’s body remains missing as of Saturday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Gal Gadot is ready to part with her oceanfront home.
The 40-year-old actress has placed her Malibu, Calif. home on the market for $8.75 million, and it is listed by Benjamin Illulian of Illulian Realty.
According to Realtor.com, Gadot purchased the three-bedroom and three-bathroom home with her husband, Jaron Varsano, in December 2020 for $5 million.
The 1,956-square-foot home boasts an open floor plan and seamless indoor/outdoor living, as the living room opens up to an outdoor balcony with picturesque views of the Pacific Ocean.
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In addition, the home features direct beach access, 80 feet of frontage on Carbon Beach and a two-car garage with an additional eight parking spots for guests. It is also located next to Nobu, Soho House Malibu and the Malibu Pier.
Gadot and her husband first met in 2006 at a yoga retreat in Israel, when the actress was 21 years old, and later tied the knot in 2008.
In their time together, the couple have welcomed four daughters; Alma, 14, Maya, 9, Daniella, 4, and Ori, 1.
Most recently, Gadot starred in the live-action remake of the animated Disney classic, “Snow White,” which was released in March 2025. The movie ultimately grossed $205 million worldwide, falling short of its reported $270 million budget.
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The Israeli actress said in an August 2025 interview on Israel’s Channel Keshet 12 program “The A Talks,” that she believes the Israel-Palestine conflict played a role in the movie’s failure.
“I was sure that this movie was going to be a huge success, and then October 7 happened — and what’s happening in all kinds of industries, and also in Hollywood — is that there’s a lot of pressure on celebrities to speak out against Israel,” Gadot said.
Later in the interview, she added that no matter how hard one tries “to give people in the world context” and try to get them to understand “what the reality is here,” people will ultimately make their own decisions, and she “was disappointed that the movie was greatly affected by that and didn’t do well at the box office.”
Also in August 2025, Gadot visited Israel and met with the families of those who had been taken hostage by Hamas, and had been held in captivity for nearly two years.
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“We were deeply moved by Gal Gadot’s visit to Hostages Square today,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement to Fox News Digital at the time. “She chose to spend real time with us, sitting with the families and Hamas captivity survivors, listening with patience and empathy, and sharing in our pain. For families who have endured nearly two years of fear and uncertainty, her presence was a rare moment of comfort and strength.”
President Trump is attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday for the first time as commander-in-chief — after boycotting the annual event last year and each year during his first term.
The dinner will take place on Saturday, April 25, at the Washington Hilton.
“The White House Correspondents Association has asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree at this year’s Dinner, a long and storied tradition since it began in 1924, under then President Calvin Coolidge,” Trump posted on his Truth Social last month, adding that it would be his “Honor to accept their invitation.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association’s president, Weijia Jiang said that they were “happy” with the president’s decision to attend.
“For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president,” Jiang said in a statement last month. “We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.”
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The president had skipped the event in years past, saying that decision was due to the press being “extraordinarily bad” to him.
Despite the annual invitation and Trump’s acceptance, hundreds of journalists are going after the president, having signed an open letter urging the White House Correspondents’ Association to call out the president and “forcefully demonstrate opposition” to his “efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
“The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it. President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press… render his presence at such an event a profound contradiction of its purpose,” the open letter reads.
“The collective weight of the administration’s actions — retaliatory access bans, coercive regulatory investigations, frivolous lawsuits against the press, defunding of public broadcasting, dismantling of international broadcasting, physical restrictions on journalists, personal verbal attacks on reporters, assaults on the media in official White House press releases and social media posts, the arrest of journalists, and the pardoning of those who committed violence against the press — represent the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president.”
Notable signatories on the letter are former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, former ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, former NBC News anchor Ann Curry and PBS NewsHour correspondent Stephanie Sy.
A spokesperson for the White House simply pointed to Trump’s Truth Social post announcing he was attending the dinner when previously asked about the open letter.
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Trump did attend the event as a private citizen in 2011 during the Obama administration. Then-President Barack Obama made a joke about Trump during that event saying: “Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. Let’s see what we’ve got up there.”
Obama then featured an image of the White House with a neon sign that said “Trump White House Hotel Casino Golf Course” with gold columns and a chandelier.
But during his second term, Trump has actually taken to remodeling the White House— with a new ballroom under construction and his addition of gold molding to the Oval Office.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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