Four police officers shot and killed in WA

[MoJo]

Please pray for these four officers and their families. Also that their killers will be brought to justice.



TACOMA, Wash.— Four police officers were shot and killed Sunday morning in what authorities called a targeted ambush at a coffee house in Washington state, a sheriff's official said.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told The News Tribune in Tacoma one or two gunmen burst into the Forza Coffee Co. and shot the four uniformed officers as they were working on their laptop computers, then fled the scene.

Troyer said investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery.

"It looks like a flat-out ambush," Troyer told the newspaper.

The four officers were about to go to work, Troyer said. He said officers were looking for a male suspect who fled on foot, and "at this point we may be looking for another person."

He could not immediately say what agency the officers were from. The coffee shop is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle.

"The four of them are known by everybody here," Troyer said. "We haven't got any information as to why this happened."

Roads were blocked around the attack. 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.

The baristas who were inside the shop are "stunned and shocked, traumatized," Troyer said.

"We hopefully will have answers, but there is nothing more we can tell you," Troyer told KING-TV. "That's as cold-hearted as it is."

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.

Christopher Monfort, 41, of suburban Tukwila, was charged in the shooting. Days after the shooting, Seattle detectives attempted to question Monfort at his residence. Police say that Monfort then ran from the detectives and tried to use a gun. The detective shot him.

Authorities also linked Monfort to the October firebombing of four police vehicles, with prosecutors saying Monfort waged a "one-man war" against law enforcement.

Monfort remained hospitalized.

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr ... Wash/full/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[joe817]

I pray for the souls of the LEO's, and their families in this time of grief. I hope they catch the guy who committed this atrocity, and his soul burns in Hades.

[AEA]

They have identified a suspect and are searching for him now. They believe he may be wounded by the 4th cop that was able to put up a gunfight with him.

[kalipsocs]

Just goes to show that a firearm doesn't mean much if something that quick goes down. Never know when you're gonna go. Heart goes out to the families of the lost.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

3 of the officers were men, 1 was a woman. It was about 815 AM and they
were writing reports on their laptops inside the coffee shop before their shift began.
They were in uniform and were wearing bulletproof vests.

2 officers were killed outright. One stood up and started to react, but was
shot dead.

The 4th officer was shot, but was able to draw and engage the bad guy,
although later that officer also succumbed.

Washington State had an officer recently ambushed and shot dead as he
sat in his cruiser. What's in the water up there?

SIA

[AEA]

More on the perp scumbag:
SEATTLE (AP): In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after Huckabee commuted a 95-year prison sentence.

Huckabee, who was criticized during his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 for granting many clemencies and commutations, cited Clemmons' youth. Clemmons later violated his parole, was returned to prison and released in 2004.

On Sunday, Huckabee issued this statement on his Web site: "Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."

Any hope that Huckabee had for future political aspirations have probably just gone down the drain. This shows clearly that he exercised poor judgment in granting the commuted sentence and should have never done it. And if he had not, these 4 police officers would most probably still be alive.

[seamusTX]

Here are the names and photos of the four murdered officers: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412735_officers29.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

May they rest in peace, and may God grant comfort to their families and colleagues.

The suspect is currently holed up in a house in Seattle, surrounded by police: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/ ... 2068.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hardly need to say, there are only three ways this situation can end.

The suspect is one of the worst actors I have ever seen. He has a felony record going back to age 17 and has been sentenced on various violent felony offenses to over 100 years in prison.

He was recently charged with the rape of a 12-year and bonded out. Apparently that is what triggered this atrocity.

His family and neighbors also have reported that his behavior has become increasingly erratic recently, including claiming that he was the Messiah, that the world was about to end, and that Pres. Obama was going to visit him.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ns30m.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412737_suspect230.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[joe817]

The people letting him walk on all of those heinous offenses should be charged, IMO with aiding and abetting....or worse.

It's unfathomable that the justice system could let such an overtly violent man go free. *shakes his head*

[seamusTX]

The suspect was not in the house where police thought he was. They don't know where he is.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... 2thld.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[AEA]

Hopefully he has bled to death from his wounds that were inflicted by the 4th officer before he died.

[C-dub]

This is very sad indeed. I also heard part of Huckabee's statement and it doesn't seem like he's going to admit any responsibility for this slime.

I realize this happened quickly and without warning, but does this give any further insight into what to do when in a restaurant and someone pulls a gun?

[AEA]

This is very sad indeed. I also heard part of Huckabee's statement and it doesn't seem like he's going to admit any responsibility for this slime.

I realize this happened quickly and without warning, but does this give any further insight into what to do when in a restaurant and someone pulls a gun?

Get your gun out as quickly as you can and be ready to return fire. Get out of the place if you can.

[Dudley]

This is very sad indeed. I also heard part of Huckabee's statement and it doesn't seem like he's going to admit any responsibility for this slime.

He let a rabid dog loose in a playground. Of course he doesn't want to admit any responsibility.

[seamusTX]

Seattle police report that officers fatally shot the suspect a short time ago (early hours of Tuesday, Dec. 1).

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... sshot.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,578292,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Several of his relatives or acquaintances are suspected of helping him hide. I don't think that line of investigation is appropriate for the Prayer Requests forum.

- Jim

[The Annoyed Man]

It kind of casts a different light on THIS THREAD, doesn't it?