4 Police Officers Shot Dead Near Washington State Air Force Base

[tombogan03884]

I'll wait for more Information about the cops, Every one stuck up for NYPD detectives Eppilito and Carracapa too, Even after they were convicted of being enforcers and Hitmen for the Mafia.

[philw]

http://www.officer.com/web/online/Officer-Down-News/Four-Wash-Officers-Shot-Dead-in-Ambush/2$49535

Four Wash. Officers Shot Dead in Ambush

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

PARKLAND, Wash. --

A gunman burst into a coffeehouse Sunday and opened fire on four police officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what an official described as a targeted ambush.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said officers were looking for one male suspect who fled the scene and haven't ruled out an accomplice, possibly a getaway driver.

Troyer said investigators had spoken to a person in nearby Tacoma, who gave information that led them to believe the gunman was on foot and still near the coffee shop. Troyer would not given any details nor characterize that person in any way, but said the information led officers to carefully search buildings close by.

It wasn't clear whether the slain officers even had time to draw their weapons to return fire, Troyer said.

"This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers," Troyer said.

Troyer said the officers - all from the Lakewood Police Department - were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.

Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.

"There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform," Troyer said.

With no known suspects, there was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer. The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalized.

"We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved," Troyer said. "We don't even have a suspect ID right now."

Troyer would not release the names of the victims in Sunday's shooting. He said Lakewood has a small police force and the deaths represent a loss of 10 percent to 15 percent of the department.

Troyer estimated that a couple of hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and multiple surrounding police agencies in the area were at the crime scene, with some coming on their own time.

"We have no motive at all," Troyer said. "I don't think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it."

Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack. All are being interviewed by the Pierce County Sheriff's investigators.

"Some are in shock. They are very upset," Troyer said. "They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened."

The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.

Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was OK and being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was for the families of the police officers.

"I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," said Carpenter, of nearby Gig Harbor.

Troyer said the Lakewood officers were two blocks outside their jurisdiction, and the coffee shop was a popular place for officers from surrounding jurisdictions to meet and share information.

Streets around the coffee shop were blocked off late Sunday morning, and a police helicopter hovered over a large crowd of investigators. TV video showed police taking possession of a pickup truck parked in a grocery store in Parkland.

"We are looking at some people. We are looking at some cars. We are looking at some residences," Troyer said.

Troyer said investigators were checking surveillance video from multiple sources, trying to identify a possible getaway car.

Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told the newspaper all was quiet when he opened the store at 8 a.m. About 30 minutes later, "All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road," Gabrielson said.

He said he saw officers bring a police dog into a nearby apartment complex.

Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney. Sweeney was grazed in the neck.

Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a "one-man war" against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting. He remains hospitalized in stable condition, the hospital said Sunday.

The officers killed Sunday were a patrol squad made up of three officers and their sergeant. No threats had been made against them or other officers in the region, sheriff's officials said. Their families have been notified.

"We lost people we care about. We're working to find out who did this and deal with him." Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor told reporters at the scene.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was "shocked and horrified" by the killings.

"Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe," she said in a written statement. "My heart goes out to the family, friends and co-workers of these officers, as well as the entire law enforcement community."

At Rollies Tavern near the coffee house, the plasma TVs usually tuned to football had Northwest Cable News on. Three bar patrons live next door to the coffee house.

Jerry Arnold, 45, was in bed when he was awakened by sirens. He's lived there seven years and never seen anything close to Sunday's scene.

"I hope they get them. I can't sleep until they do," he said. "Those guys could be hiding in my backyard."

___

Associated Press Writer Rachel La Corte in Olympia and Photographer Ted S. Warren in Parkland contributed to this report.

[tombogan03884]

Police: Suspect in deaths of officers not in house

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091130/ap_on_re_us/us_officers_shot

SEATTLE – Police say the suspect in the slayings of four police officers at a suburban coffee shop was not found in the Seattle home where he was thought to have been holed up.

Negotiators spent the night trying to communicate with 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons, using loudspeakers, explosions and even a robot to try to prod him from hiding. But when they entered the home, he was not there.

[Ichiban]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010385612_webpolicefund29m.html


Police union sets up fund for slain officers

The union for Lakewood Police officers and sergeants has established a fund for the four officers killed today.

By Seattle Times staff

The union for Lakewood Police officers and sergeants has established a fund for the four officers killed today.

On its Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83164294642), the union says every penny donated will go to the officers' families and donations can be made to specific officers. Checks should be made out to the LPIG Benevolent Fund at P.O. Box 99579, Lakewood, WA 98499, according to the message posted by Brian D. Wurts, president of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild.

Wurts said he would "personally make sure" donations will go where intended. Wurts' e-mail address is bwurts@lpig.us.

[Pathfinder]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010385612_webpolicefund29m.html


Police union sets up fund for slain officers

The union for Lakewood Police officers and sergeants has established a fund for the four officers killed today.

By Seattle Times staff

The union for Lakewood Police officers and sergeants has established a fund for the four officers killed today.

On its Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83164294642), the union says every penny donated will go to the officers' families and donations can be made to specific officers. Checks should be made out to the LPIG Benevolent Fund at P.O. Box 99579, Lakewood, WA 98499, according to the message posted by Brian D. Wurts, president of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild.

Wurts said he would "personally make sure" donations will go where intended. Wurts' e-mail address is bwurts@lpig.us.

I learned eons ago in IT to always, always, always look at your acronym before publicizing it. L-PIG for a police benevolent group? Please!

Still, good cause, I'm sure most if not all had families. And all of this just a couple day after Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. This holiday season will be hard on the kids for decades to come.

The BG who did this is probably holed up somewhere dying of sepsis, don't think anyone wants anything to do with this creature.

I'd of killed him just for the baby rape - and WA state let him parole out.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

I learned eons ago in IT to always, always, always look at your acronym before publicizing it. L-PIG for a police benevolent group? Please!

Still, good cause, I'm sure most if not all had families. And all of this just a couple day after Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. This holiday season will be hard on the kids for decades to come.

The BG who did this is probably holed up somewhere dying of sepsis, don't think anyone wants anything to do with this creature.

I'd of killed him just for the baby rape - and WA state let him parole out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_re_us/us_officers_shot

Suspect in officer killings eludes law in Seattle

SEATTLE – Authorities believe the man sought in the slaying of four police officers is still alive and has been aided by a network of friends and family, a police spokesman said Monday night.

Officers believe Maurice Clemmons was shot in the abdomen during the attack on the officers at a Parkland coffee shop, and had speculated he might have died.

But Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, said investigators have questioned several people who had provided assistance to Clemmons since the Sunday morning shootings.

[Pathfinder]

Just in . . .

Suspect in Wash. Police Killings Shot Dead
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,578292,00.html

SEATTLE —  DEVELOPING: A sheriff's spokesman in Washington state says Seattle police have fatally shot the man suspected of gunning down four police officers.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says Maurice Clemmons was shot and killed early Tuesday in a Seattle neighborhood. Authorities suspected Clemmons of killing the four officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Lakewood, a suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.

Troyer says Seattle police found Clemmons after Pierce County authorities supplied addresses of possible hiding spots.

Police have said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months.

[DDMac]

If correct, it makes my day. When I was in uniform, one of our guys was wounded during a traffic stop. Never caught the shooter. Never forgot. Some are still looking.
Mac.

[Clark Kent]

Night Owl coffee shop ring a bell?  Rollo Tomasi?  Is this life imitating art, or is there more here than meets the eye?

[GUNS-R-US]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/975864.html

Yep they (Seattle PD) shot him! Here's the link from our local Tacoma paper.

Cop killer suspect shot and killed by Seattle police

Police shot and killed murder suspect Maurice Clemmons this morning in the Rainier Valley of Seattle by a patrol officer checking out an unoccupied stolen vehicle.

Clemmons, 37, was killed about 2:45 a.m. in the 4400 block of South Kenyon Street in South Seattle.

He was holding a gun that belonged to one of the four Lakewood police officers killed Sunday, Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

“We’re very lucky we don’t have a dead police officer from Seattle,” Troyer said. “This could have very easily turned out totally different.”

Clemmons had been wounded before the fatal encounter and it appeared he had tried to get some medical aid for the wound, which was inflicted by one of the Lakewood officers.

In addition, four people – including a suspected getaway driver – were arrested overnight on suspicion of helping move and hide Clemmons, Troyer said. They were booked into the Pierce County Jail on rendering criminal assistance.

“We’ll look for more people to arrest today,” Troyer said. Authorities gave this account of Clemmons’ death:

The officer, whose name has not been released, spotted a car that had been reported stolen earlier in the night. It was running but unoccupied.

The officer, a seven-year veteran, called in his location and the car’s license plate number. As the officer investigated, he felt a presence behind him.

The officer had told investigators he recognized the approaching person as Clemmons from the law enforcement bulletins.

The man was ordered to stop and show his hands. The man did not and started to move around the stolen car. The officer again ordered him to stop and, when he did not, shot Clemmons several times. He died at the scene of his wounds.

Police do not believe Clemmons was at a house in the area he was killed.

Clemmons was the prime suspect in the fatal shooting Sunday of four Lakewood police officers. Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and officers Tina Griswold, 40, Ronald Owens, 37, and Greg Richards, 42, were shot and killed Sunday in the Forza Coffee Co. in Parkland.

The families of the slain officers have been notified of Clemmons’ death.

Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar, who was at the Seattle scene, thanked his colleagues in law enforcement for their work on the case.

“I had all the confidence in the world in the Sheriff’s Department,” said Farrar, who worked for the Sheriff’s Department before joining the Lakewood force as a lieutenant when the agency formed.

“We can close the page on this.”

By the end of the day up to six arrests could be made in connection with the case, Troyer said.

Law enforcement agencies had been searching homes and locating and rounding up relatives and friends of Clemmons in Tacoma, Seattle, Renton and elsewhere in the Puget Sound since Sunday.

Deputies have arrested a man suspected of driving Clemmons away from the shooting scene, Troyer said. He was being interviewed by investigators.

Troyer said he didn’t know whether the driver knew what was going on or if Clemmons had told the driver what he was going to do at the coffee shop.

The friends and families of Clemmons who’ve been arrested are suspected of trying to get him medical aid and shelter. They gave Clemmons money, food and cell phones, Troyer said.

Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said his office is “working full speed” on those who’ve been arrested on suspicion of helping Clemmons.

“What we are looking at this morning is anyone who helped the criminal,” Lindquist said. “You help a criminal, you become a criminal and we are going to prosecute you like a criminal.”

The motive for Sunday’s shooting was unknown.

Authorities said they determined Clemmons knew he was angry about being incarcerated and told friends to watch the news because he was going to kill officers. They have no indication Clemmons knew the officers’ he killed.

Troyer said the wound Clemmons suffered Sunday was serious.

“He was shot dead center,” Troyer said, pointing to his torso. “He managed to continue running.”