Police were scouring Seattle this morning, looking for the 37-year-old man suspected of walking into a Tacoma-area coffee shop Sunday and shooting four unsuspecting police officers.
Maurice Clemmons, released on bail less than a week before the shooting, was himself shot and perhaps seriously wounded by one of the slain officers Sunday morning, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Police know that Clemmons was wounded because they have detained other people — Troyer wouldn’t say how many — who helped Clemmons after the shootings.
Troyer said police now consider Clemmons a suspect, rather than merely a “person of interest.” Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons “made comments the night before to people that he was going to shoot police and watch the news.”
Police don’t know the severity of Clemmons’ wound, and Troyer said he may already be dead.
The series of events leading up to at least three separate searches in Seattle this morning began more than 16 hours earlier at an upscale coffee shop in Parkland, Pierce County, a hangout for officers that became the scene of the deadliest attack on law enforcement in state history.
Four officers were shot and killed at 8:15 a.m. as they worked on their laptops at Forza Coffee Company in Parkland. The first two officers were “flat-out executed,” while the third tried to stop the gunman and the fourth fired at him, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Those killed were identified as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Gregory Richards, 42.
Clemmons has a long criminal record in Arkansas and Washington. He was released from custody in Pierce County just a week ago, and was facing a charge of raping a child. Family members described him as being in a state of mental deterioration. Last spring, he was also accused of punching a sheriff’s deputy in the face.
Sunday’s shootings came as officers from across the state were still coming to terms with last month’s ambush-slaying of Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton. The two incidents do not appear related, police said.
The coffee shop, in a strip mall across the street from McChord Air Force Base, is favored by officers from several nearby jurisdictions.
Troyer said the scruffy-looking gunman entered the shop, walked past the officers and three or four other customers, and approached the counter.
A young barista asked the man if she could help him, according to Humberto Navarrete, 51, who lives nearby and later spoke to the barista. The man stared at the barista without saying a word and then opened his coat, revealing a handgun, Navarrete said.
The barista and another female barista on duty ran out the back, according to Navarrete. The gunman turned and started shooting at the officers, he said, quoting the women.
“This was a targeted, selective ambush,” Troyer said.
The officers, who made up one patrol unit, were regulars at the coffee shop. They were wearing bulletproof vests and were preparing to start their day shift, Troyer said.
The first two officers apparently had no time to react. The third officer stood up and tried to go for the gunman before being shot, Troyer said. The fourth officer struggled with the gunman, wrestled him out the door and managed to fire off some shots before he, too, was killed, Troyer said.
It’s not clear if the gunman was injured by gunshots.
“It’s carnage out front everywhere,” Troyer said, describing the front of the coffee shop. “It’s like a bad horror movie, it’s horrible.”
Navarrete, a financial manager who lives a block from the coffee shop, said he was in a nearby AM-PM minimart Sunday morning when the two baristas from the coffee shop ran into the store crying and upset.
Brad Carpenter, CEO of Forza Coffee, met with the two young baristas after they were interviewed by police and said they were shaken up.
The slain officers were “well-known to our staff,” said Carpenter, a retired police officer from Oakland, Calif., and Gig Harbor.
“It’s supposed to be a safe haven for everybody,” he said of the coffee shop.
Investigators have no indication that Clemmons had a motive aimed specifically at any of the particular officers who were gunned down, Troyer said.
“He was upset about being incarcerated,” Troyer said. “He was just targeting cops.”
A trailer on the property where police first thought Clemmons was hiding was empty when officers entered it early this morning.
A short time earlier, they had issued an ultimatum for anyone inside the trailer to come out, but got no response.
That was followed by a series of flash-bangs, distraction devices which can temporarily blind a suspect. Discharges of what appeared to be tear gas followed.
SWAT teams and police negotiators had surrounded the house at East Yesler Way and 32nd Avenue South earlier in the day based on tips given to police.
Police responded to the home around 8:44 p.m. Sunday. A woman who was leaving the home was stopped by officers and told them Clemmons was on the property and bleeding.
The woman told police that someone had dropped Clemmons off at his aunt’s home, on East Superior Street.
The shootings rank as the worst attack on law enforcement in state history. Three Seattle police were shot and killed by a gunman in January 1921.
Suspect Posted Bail Through Chehalis Company
By The Seattle Times
In Pierce County, Maurice Clemmons had been in jail for the past several months on a child-rape charge that carries a possible life sentence. He was released from custody one week ago, even though he was staring at eight felony charges in all.
Clemmons posted $15,000 with a Chehalis company called Jail Sucks Bail Bonds. The bondsman, in turn, put up $150,000, securing Clemmons’ release on the child-rape charge.
The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Chronicle this morning.
Slain Officers Respected For Careers, Family Life
By The Seattle Times
The four victims of Sunday morning’s shooting were veteran officers who brought a range of talents to the fledgling Lakewood Police Department when it was created in 2004, according to Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar.
“This is a very difficult time for our families and our officers,” he said. “Please keep our families and Lakewood Police in your prayers.”
The slain officers “all have been outstanding professionals,” he added.
Officer Gregory Richards
Gregory Richards, 42, of Graham was known as one of the sweet guys, the one everyone liked to work with.
“He was a very well-respected and well-liked co-worker, and when he left we were sad to see him go,” said Lt. Lisa Price, public-information officer for the Kent department. “People loved working alongside him.
“He was just a nice, cute, angelic guy.”
He had a lighter side too. Richards was the drummer in an all-police officer rock band called Locked Down. The band played at social gatherings, including a recent police officers’ motorcycle rally in Ocean Shores.
Richards is survived by his wife, Kelly, a daughter and two sons.
Sgt. Mark Renninger
A decorated veteran officer and popular law-enforcement instructor, Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, is survived by his wife and three children.
“Mark was a professional, dedicated police officer who made the ultimate sacrifice. More importantly, he was a loving and devoted father, husband and family member who will be missed by many,” said Renninger’s brother, Matt, on a statement published on the Web site of WFMZ-TV in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where Renninger grew up.
He joined the Tukwila Police Department shortly after leaving military service in 1996. He was a patrol officer, a SWAT team member and was, for a time, president of the Tukwila police officers’ guild.
On a Facebook tribute page set up by his relatives Sunday, more than 1,000 message of tribute were posted by early evening.
Among the postings was one from Rick Fisher, who said he coached Renninger’s daughter in fastpitch softball two seasons ago. “Mark was a fun and compassionate man,” Fisher wrote. “He was always willing to help me and the girls out when he could. He was a tremendous help.”
Officer Tina Griswold
Tina Griswold, 40, joined the Lakewood Police Department in 2004 and earlier this year won its Lifesaving Award.
“She was likable and enjoyed life,” said her former father-in-law, Carroll Kelley of Shelton, Mason County.
She is survived by her husband, a daughter, 21, and a son, 8, police and relatives said.
She previously worked as a police officer in Shelton for three years, public records show. She was an officer and SWAT team member for the Lacey Police Department from 1998 to 2004, according to Sgt. Scott Eastman, her former supervisor. The group was responsible for serving high-risk warrants and conducting high-risk entries, he said.
“Tina was an outstanding officer,” Eastman said. “She was very assertive, and had no fear in dealing with high-risk situations and suspects that were larger than her. She had this presence about her that was in charge and you were going to do what she said. She had the verbal skills and the confidence to pull it off.”
Griswold was avid about physical fitness, and lifted weights and ran regularly, Eastman said. She stood about 5 feet and weighed less than 100 pounds.
“She could do 30 to 40 pull-ups,” Eastman said. “A lot of the guys were talking about that this morning. We’d always joke that she didn’t have much to lift.”
Griswold was one of the first members of Lacey’s tactical team, and the first woman to hold the job, Eastman said.
Officer Ronald Owens
Friends describe Ronald Owens, 37, as a dedicated officer and devoted father. He was also an “ideal tenant,” said Toni Strehlow, who managed a property Owens rented, a house with a white-picket fence near downtown Puyallup.
“When he rented from us, the first thing he did was replace walls and a patio door and he never charged us, never wanted a rent deduction. He just wanted to do for people,” said Strehlow.
He was a good neighbor, too, said Charley Stokes who lived next door to him in Puyallup. “We’d talk over the back fence, have a beer once in a while.”
Owens, who was divorced, was very proud of his daughter, he said.
Owens went into police work because his father, who died in 2006, was a detective, according to a neighbor, Edie Wintermute.
