A triple homicide at a Louisiana homeless camp, allegedly spurred by a stolen bicycle, emphasizes the inherent dangers of these encampments – not just for their inhabitants, but for those in surrounding communities, an expert told Fox News Digital. 

On April 3, 44-year-old Mindy Ann Robert, 33-year-old Marcey Vincent and 53-year-old Warren Fairley were found dead, all shot multiple times, in a makeshift campsite, hidden from view by brush on a vacant lot in Jefferson Parish, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said. 

Crime in these camps is a growing concern across the country, which has seen an 18.1% increase in homelessness in 2024, according to a December report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Federal officials cited a rising number of asylum seekers, lack of affordable housing and natural disasters as reasons for the increase in homelessness.

“These homeless encampments pose a health threat and a safety threat to the general public,” Mark Powell, a former reserve police officer in San Diego who oversaw the city’s Monarch School for Homeless Youth while on the city’s school board, told Fox News Digital. “It’s the duty, it’s the obligation of our city leaders, our elected politicians, to do everything they can within the law to eradicate these camps and provide the people living in the camps with the dignity they deserve through some type of shelter program.”

Marcey Vincent, 33, was shot on April 3 at the Old Jefferson homeless encampment where she lived. (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office)

Powell said that the incident is the latest example of why the government has an obligation to regulate homeless encampments. 

“In this instance, three people were murdered. That’s not to say somebody jogging through the park or jogging near the homeless encampment could also become a victim just as easily as this,” Powell told Fox News Digital. 

“It’s the duty of the city. If they’re going to allow homeless camps like this, it’s their duty to make sure that they’re cleaned, that they’re regulated, that there’s some type of law enforcement presence that frequents that homeless camp on a regular basis,” Powell said. 

Warren Fairley, 53, worked at a nearby restaurant as a cook, his family told The Times-Picayune. He regularly visited the homeless encampment before he was shot there on April 3, police said. (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office)

“Not once a month or when they get a call, but they have to have some type of security in there,” he continued. “[Otherwise] you’re going to end up with more of these incidences where there are rapes, murders, there’s assault, there are batteries, there’s a theft, there’s rampant drug dealing – this is what you’ll find in these homeless encampments.”

“Many people don’t even want to jog through the park because they know there’s a homeless encampment in there, and they’re scared – the people who are committing the crimes are the ones who are controlling the property,” Powell said. “They’re not paying taxes, they’re not doing anything yet. [But] the people who do pay the taxes who do not commit crimes, they’re the ones who are impacted.” 

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.