4 police shot dead in coffee shop

[Angharrad]

Lakewood, Washington (CNN) -- Four police officers were fatally shot Sunday in what police said was an ambush in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington.

The officers were sitting in the coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington, before the start of their shifts, reading on their computers, when the shooting occurred, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer. He told reporters that authorities believe the officers were meeting and going over cases or doing paperwork.

"This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer told reporters. He said a gunman came inside, opened fire and shot all four officers. Two baristas and other customers inside the shop were unharmed -- "just the law enforcement officers were targeted."

Authorities know the identity of the four fallen officers, and were in the process of notifying family members and their departments, he said. He would not say what agencies the officers were from, but said, "they're all from this area."
A $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest, he said.

Police are looking for one man and possibly a second person in the attack, which occurred about 8 a.m., Troyer said. The suspect is described as an African-American man, between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing a black coat and blue jeans, with a "scruffy" appearance, he said. The man is believed to have fled the coffee shop on foot, he said.
Officers were working on getting additional descriptions from witnesses.

"We're doing everything we can," Troyer said. Authorities were conducting searches in numerous locations, he said, and dogs had been brought in to attempt to track the suspect.

There were no known threats against police before the incident, Troyer said.

Lakewood is about 40 miles south of Seattle and 10 miles southwest of Tacoma.

Bystanders gathered outside the coffee shop, some of them in tears.

The Forza Coffee Company is on the edge of McChord Air Force Base. Spokesman Bud McKay said the base was not shut down, but security was ramped up around the perimeter as a precaution.

The military has offered assistance to police, he said, but it has not been requested.

CNN

[Tyyr]

Gang initiation maybe?

[Lighthawk]

Gang initiation maybe?

Be one of the stupiest gangs ever if it is. Police hit back hard when this kind of shit happens.

[Foxfyre]

especially that close to a base, hopefully this doesn't happen again

[Tyyr]

Be one of the stupiest gangs ever if it is. Police hit back hard when this kind of s**t happens.

It's a gang, you're not a member of it because you're excelling in other areas of your life.

[Angharrad]

Well, they hit back. No trial needed.

Suspect in Police Shootings Is Dead, Official Says

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 1, 2009
SEATTLE (AP) -- The man suspected of gunning down four police officers in a suburban coffee shop was shot and killed by Seattle police early Tuesday, a sheriff's spokesman said. Three other people were arrested for allegedly helping him elude authorities during a massive two-day manhunt.

Maurice Clemmons was shot to death in a working-class south Seattle neighborhood after police tracked him down using possible hiding spots supplied by Pierce County investigators, said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the county sheriff. Troyer told Fox News a single officer found Clemmons and shot and killed him. A couple dozen police officers milled around at the scene where Clemmons was apparently shot, shaking hands and patting each other on the back.

Authorities say Clemmons, 37, singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.

On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect's gunshot wound.

"We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up," Troyer said.

Troyer didn't immediately give the names of the three people arrested on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance. Police said a network of friends and family gave Clemmons place to stay, medical aid, rides and money while he was on the run.

Police said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.

Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."

Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.

Police surrounded a house in a Seattle neighborhood late Sunday following a tip Clemmons had been dropped off there. After an all-night siege, a SWAT team entered the home and found it empty. But police said Clemmons had been there.

Police frantically chased leads on Monday, searching multiple spots in the Seattle and Tacoma area and at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons.

Authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup truck belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside. They posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons' arrest and alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.

"We need to get him into custody and we need to end this," Troyer said Monday night.

Authorities in two states were criticized amid revelations that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.

Huckabee cited Clemmons' youth in granting the request. But Clemmons quickly reverted to his criminal past, violated his parole and was returned to prison. He was released again in 2004.

"This guy should have never been on the street," said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood. "Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out."

Huckabee said on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night that Clemmons was allowed back on the street because prosecutors failed to file paperwork in time.

Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons' parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee's comments were "red herrings."

"My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did," Jegley said.

Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse.

But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.

Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.

"The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," a Pierce County sheriff's report said.

NY Times

[Tyyr]

So, show of hands, who's shocked he was killed?

[Sionnach Glic]

Absolutely no one. The guy could have been asleep and they'd still have claimed he was reaching for a weapon.

Now let's just hope they hit the right guy.

[Nickswitz]

Absolutely no one. The guy could have been asleep and they'd still have claimed he was reaching for a weapon.

Yeah, he's a sleep shooter... I swear..

[Tyyr]

Given the guy's priors even if he wasn't the shooter he's no great loss to society.

[Mikey]

I was just about to post this story.

Now let's just hope they hit the right guy.

Well, the Associated Press story I was about to link has the following:

Maurice Clemmons was carrying a handgun he took from one of the dead officers when a Seattle policeman recognized him near a stolen car in a working-class south Seattle neighborhood about 2:45 a.m., Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said.

That would indicate pretty strongly that he's the right guy.