4 Police Officers Killed

[fishing n autograph]

Sad day...

 

Four police officers killed in Wash. statePARKLAND, Wash. - Four police officers were shot and killed Sunday morning as they sat in a coffee shop Sunday morning in what sheriff's officials described as an "ambush."The officers were in the cafe at a strip mall in the Lakewood area with their laptop computers, preparing for their day shifts, when one or two gunmen walked in and opened fire, Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said."This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer said, adding that customers and baristas were in the shop at the time but no one else was shot at or injured.Authorities were searching for the gunmen, and nearby McChord Air Force Base was put on alert.A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to those responsible.More to come.

 

 

The sad part is that the suspect in the shooting was convicted of aggravated armed robbery and sexual assault on a child...sentenced for 95 years in prison...then was granted clemancy and released from jail....

[Terry]

yeah

 

everywhere needs the death penalty

it never should have happened

[Greencoachdog]

Saw that on the news yesterday and today.

[fishing n autograph]

Lakewood Police officers Greg Richards (top left), Mark Renninger (top right), Tina Griswold (bottom right) and Ronald Owens (bottom left) were shot and killed at a coffee shop in Parkland, Wash., on Sunday. NBC News and news services Video: Police killings suspect may be dead, cops saySEATTLE - A suspect in the slaying of four police officers gunned down in a suburban coffee shop was in a Seattle house early Monday, wounded and possibly dead, police said. Negotiators were trying to communicate with Maurice Clemmons, 37, using loudspeakers and explosions to try to prod him from hiding. At one point, gunshots rang through the neighborhood, which is some 30 miles from the original crime scene. "We have determined that in fact he has been shot," said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff. "He may be deceased from his gunshot wound." NBC News reported Monday that police had not been able to make contact with Clemmons.Authorities had speculated early Sunday that the gunman might have been wounded at the coffee shop by one of his victims. Troyer said interviews with others detained in the investigation confirmed that theory. 'We are not going away'Police surrounded the house late Sunday, and a negotiator used a loudspeaker early Monday to call him out by name, saying: "Mr. Clemmons, I'd like to get you out of there safely. I can tell you this, we are not going away." Any response from inside the house was inaudible from the vantage of a photographer for The Associated Press. But shortly thereafter, police began using sirens outside the house, and there were several loud bangs before the negotiator resumed speaking, saying: "This is one of the toughest decisions you'll make in your life, but you need to man up." By 3 a.m. Pacific time, the loudspeakers and explosions had fallen silent. Clemmons, 37, who had a lengthy prison sentence commuted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee nearly a decade ago, became the prime target Sunday in the search for the killer of Lakewood Police Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; and Officers Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards 42. Clemmons is believed to have been in the area around the time of the shooting, but Troyer declined to say what evidence might link him to the shooting. On Sunday, Huckabee deflected blame with a 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," he wrote. Investigators say they know of no reason that Clemmons or anyone else might have had to open fire on the four as they sat working on their laptops early Sunday morning, catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts. "We're going to be surprised if there is a motive worth mentioning," said Troyer, who sketched out a scene of controlled and deliberate carnage that spared the employees and other customers at the coffee shop in suburban Parkland, south of Seattle. "He was very versed with the weapon," Troyer said. "This wasn't something where the windows were shot up and there bullets sprayed around the place. The bullets hit their targets." Extensive criminal historyOfficer Richards' sister-in-law, Melanie Burwell, called the shooting "senseless." "He didn't have a mean bone in his body," she said. "If there were more people in the world like Greg, things like this wouldn't happen. Video: Sheriff's dept.: 'The suspect may be hurt'Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas. He also recently was arrested and charged in Washington state for assaulting a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child. Using a bail bondsman, he posted $150,000 — only $15,000 of his own money — and was released from jail last week. Documents related to the pending charges in Washington state indicate an unstable and volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of punching a sheriff's deputy in the face, The Seattle Times reported. In another, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress, according to a Pierce County sheriff's report. "The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," the report said. Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were killed while sitting in the shop, and a third was shot dead after standing up. The fourth apparently "gave up a good fight." "We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door," Troyer said. 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. There was no indication of any connection between Sunday's killings and the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer. Authorities say theman 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. The officers killed Sunday had received no threats, sheriff's officials said. "We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved," Troyer said.

[Cookslav]

Man thats brutal,

 

What on earth would constitute cummuting this mans crimes?

I could "possibly" see if had they put him into a mental institution for treatment as he was 17 years of age, and obviosly metally disturbed.

So had there been "A PlAN" for this person maybe the people in his community stood a chance.

But to release a criminal with delusional behaviour into the community with out a solid phyciatric rehabilitation plan...thats just plain iresponsible.

Might as well give a loaded gun to 4 year old.

 

I think Huckabee should be strung up, next to Clemmons assuming he is the guilty party..

[Fishnwire]

Man thats brutal,

 

What on earth would constitute cummuting this mans crimes?

 

 

Because they needed the room in jail for much more serious crimes like marijauna law infractions.