View Full Version : Washington State: Four Police Officers Ambushed and Killed
This would be the first like this in some time that I can recall, if the initial story is correct.
Prayers for the fallen.
4 Police Officers Shot Dead Near Washington State Air Force Base
Sunday, November 29, 2009
SEATTLE — Four police officers were shot dead in an ambush at a Washington state coffee house, a sheriff's official said Sunday.
The attack occurred east of McChord Air Force Base in Parkland, Wash.
The officers were shot at local coffee shop, Forza Coffee, the News Tribune of Tacoma reported.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told The News Tribune in Tacoma that the officers were sitting in the coffee shop with their computers when the shooter came in Sunday morning.
He says investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery.
Troyer tells the newspaper "it was just a flat out ambush."
He could not immediately say what agency the officers were from.
There were other customers in the coffee shop but only the four officers were hit, according to Fox affiliate q13Fox.com.
There are two suspects, one male and one black male, q13Fox.com reported.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer tells Seattle's KOMO-TV that the officers were hit near 116th Street and Steele Street on the east side of the Air Force base at about 8:30 a.m. local time.
McChord Base is not on lockdown, according to 62dn Airlift Wing Public Affairs Spokesman Bud McKay. The base is open and implementing its standard procedure of ID checks.
Click here for more from q13Fox.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,577691,00.html
man that is just sad .to bad they did not have a chance to see them before they drew down on them
Safetyhit- Can you do me a favor and update your title to show it happened in WA state, that way people who live in that area might be a little more alert.
Thanks
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Police-officers-shot-78089882.html
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/78088192.html
http://www.kirotv.com/news/21752966/detail.html
GLOCKMASTER
11-29-09, 13:05
So sad.....May they find the people responsible for this and bring them to justice.:mad:
RIP Brothers........:(
RIP brothers.
Hope those maggots who did this end up on a slab.
Rayrevolver
11-29-09, 13:15
A few weeks ago two Seattle Police Officers were ambushed while they were sitting in their cruiser.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010181624_webcopshot01m.html
What the hell is going on out here?
More fuel for Mayor Nickles. :rolleyes:
North west cable news is streaming a live feed from King 5 news.
http://www.nwcn.com/home/Video-stream-66419867.html
Prayers sent to Families of the officers
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd2/103m95g/blueline.jpg
SeriousStudent
11-29-09, 13:45
Prayers sent for the murdered officers, their families, and fellow officers. May they receive comfort and strength during this time of trial. :(
I pray that no more officers are injured apprehending those responsible, and the Devil has an extra bag of coal in the furnace when they arrive in Hell.
gtmtnbiker98
11-29-09, 14:08
So sad.
SWATcop556
11-29-09, 14:13
RIP brothers. The watch is ours now.
Keep us posted with updates please.
RogerinTPA
11-29-09, 15:54
Prayers sent to the fallen Officers and their families. I hope this isn't the start of a trend out there...
Indeed, prayers for the families of the fallen.
Cascades236
11-29-09, 17:55
That's five assassinated in Washington in less than a month. Please keep all of Washington's LEO and families in your thoughts and prayers. It's not easy for any of them right now.
They now have a person of interest
Maurice Clemmons, 37
Clemmons has an extensive criminal background. Charges include assault on a police officer and rape of a child.
May have been wounded by one of the officers.
Holy shit.. this dude is a ****in fruitloop
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010385617_webmansought29.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2009/11/29/2010385656.jpg
Maurice Clemmons, man wanted for questioning, has long criminal history
Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers this morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.
By Seattle Times staff
Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers this morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.
Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protestations of prosecutors.
"This is the day I've been dreading for a long time," Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' Pulaski County said Sunday night when informed that Clemmons was being sought in connection to the killings.
Clemmons' criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. The record also stands out for the number of times he has been released from custody despite questions about the danger he posed.
Clemmons had been in jail in Pierce County for the past several months on a pending charge of second-degree rape of a child.
He was released from custody just six days ago, even though he was wanted on a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas and was staring at eight felony charges in all out of Washington state.
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 pending child-rape charge.
Clemmons lives in Tacoma, where he has run a landscaping and power-washing business out of his house, according to a police interview with his wife earlier this year.
He was married, but the relationship was tumultuous, with accounts of his unpredictable behavior leading to at least two confrontations with police earlier this year.
During the confrontation in May, Clemmons punched a sheriff's deputy in the face, according to court records. As part of that incident, he was charged with seven counts of assault and malicious mischief.
In another instance, Clemmons was accused of gathering his wife and young relatives around at 3 or 4 in the morning and having them all undress. He told them that families need to "be naked for at least 5 minutes on Sunday," a Pierce County sheriff's report says.
"The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," the report says.
As part of the child-rape investigation, the sheriff's office interviewed Clemmons' sister in May. She told them that "Maurice is not in his right mind and did not know how he could react when contacted by Law Enforcement," a sheriff's report says.
"She stated that he was saying that the secret service was coming to get him because he had written a letter to the President. She stated his behavior has become unpredictable and erratic. She suspects he is having a mental breakdown," the report says.
Deputies also interviewed other family members. They reported that Clemmons had been saying he could fly and that he expected President Obama to visit to "confirm that he is Messiah in the flesh."
Prosecutors in Pierce County were sufficiently concerned about Clemmons' mental health that they asked to have him evaluated at Western State Hospital. Earlier this month, on Nov. 6, a psychologist concluded that Clemmons was competent to stand trial on the child-rape and other felony charges, according to court records.
Clemmons moved Washington in 2004, after being released from prison in Arkansas, state Department of Corrections records indicate. That would mean he had gone five years or so before landing in serious trouble with authorities here, according to a review of his criminal record.
Clemmons started Sea-Wash Pressure Washing Landscaping with his wife, Nicole Smith, in October 2005. The license for the business expired last month.
Long history of trouble in Arkansas
News accounts out of Arkansas offer a confusing — and, at times, conflicting — description of Clemmons' criminal history and prison time.
In 1990, Clemmons, then 18, was sentenced in Arkansas to 60 years in prison for burglary and theft of property, according to a news account. Newspaper stories describe a series of disturbing incidents involving Clemmons while he was being tried in Arkansas on various charges.
During one trial, Clemmons was shackled in leg irons and seated next to a uniformed officer. The presiding judge ordered the extra security because he felt Clemmons had threatened him, court records show.
Another time, Clemmons hid a hinge in his sock, and was accused of intending to use it as a weapon. Yet another time, Clemmons took a lock from a holding cell, and threw it toward the bailiff. He missed and instead hit Clemmons' mother, who had come to bring him street clothes, according to records and published reports.
On another occasion, Clemmons had reached for a guard's pistol during transport to the courtroom.
When Clemmons received the 60-year sentence, he was already serving 48 years on five felony convictions and facing up to 95 more years on charges of robbery, theft of property and possessing a handgun on school property. Records from Clemmons' sentencing described him as 5-foot-7 and 108 pounds. The crimes were committed when he was 17.
Clemmons served 11 years before being released.
News accounts say Huckabee then commuted Clemmons' sentence, citing Clemmons' young age at the time the crimes were committed.
But Clemmons remained on parole — and soon after landed in trouble again. In March 2001, he was accused of violating his parole by committing aggravated robbery and theft, according to a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette.
He was returned to prison on a parole violation. But in what appears to have been a mistake, Clemmons was not actually served with the arrest warrants until leaving prison three years later. As a result, Clemmons' attorney argued that the charges should be dismissed because too much time had passed. Prosecutors dropped the charges.
It appears that Clemmons remained in trouble with Arkansas authorities even after moving away. This year, while Clemmons was living in Washington, a warrant was issued for his arrest, accusing him of being a fugitive from Arkansas.
Hopefully he puts up a fight when they find him.
That's what I said in the local section of a car forum I frequent (I'm in WA clearly). This lead to a series of comments from people telling me and others to tone it down when I think we are justifiably pissed.
Some days I want to pack up and move out of this commie state.
No extradition on the Arkansas warrants, rendering them worthless. Hope they catch him quick, animals like this are a threat to the community at large, not just to officers. On a side note, that sound you hear in your ears is the sound of Mike Huckabee's future political career circling the drain.
Man, you have just got to be kidding me here. This **** should have been done away with long ago.
So many expletives desired. Must pass regardless.
For those who don't know at about 8:15 am four police officers were ambushed and killed about 3 blocks from my house the shooter escaped on foot Northbound on steele street by foot as of right now at 6:44 pm he is still out there. The pictures I posted are from the make shift memorial that was set up prior to removing the bodies of the four police officers. My best wishes and prayers are with all the families of these four officers: Ronald Owen, Mark Renninger, Tina Roswell, and Greg Richards
rrpederson
11-29-09, 21:56
RIP brothers. you passed on while serving the people around you. we should all let this serve as a reminder that people do not change. they do not rehabilitate. when people are proven to be evil in mind and heart, others around him should be responsible for putting their lives to an end.
i see this kind of thing more and more, the criminal justice system needs to be reformed. i believe we have had enough liberal influence where we hug the evil people. i personally have had enough with this "oh, he just wasn't in his right mind." crap. no more insanity pleas. no more parole. no more probation. people like this man have more than displayed that they are not good honest people. they are wolves among sheep. the only way to answer this haunting question is violence. we cannot allow these wolves to continue living among the rest of us. they must be put to death. no more bullshit loopholes. no more fallen officers. no more murdered civilians. this man, is the same kind of evil as the man that killed and injured the many soldiers in ft. hood in texas. there must be some exception for this kind of atrocity. we must find a better way to protect ourselves. they clearly cannot be trusted. i believe they must die. they must die in the worst way. to serve as a lesson to the rest of us who have nothing but evil inside.
Hopefully he puts up a fight when they find him.
I hope one of the officers he killed put a bullet in him and he is found dead.
RIP Brothers. Way to keep in the fight and take it to the ****face. I too hope he's dead or about to die a horrible death.
Stay Safe,
SNY
[QUOTE=Safetyhit;506256]Man, you have just got to be kidding me here. This **** should have been done away with long ago.
This. Only in America, do we continually let animals out over, and over. And only when they end doing something like this, will he get what he's deserved for the past 20 years.
United States of America, land of the free home of the criminal.
My prayers go out for the families......after reading this clowns history, it really makes you sick that anyone could have released him from custody. The scary thing is that there are hundreds just like him wandering around our towns and cities :mad:
P.S. I've often said that a Judge or Politician who is responsible for releasing these animals should have them come to their homes to live.
RIP :(
2009 has been a very deadly year for LE.
No extradition on the Arkansas warrants, rendering them worthless. Hope they catch him quick, animals like this are a threat to the community at large, not just to officers. On a side note, that sound you hear in your ears is the sound of Mike Huckabee's future political career circling the drain.
Can you elaborate as to why he wasn't turned over to Arkansas authorities on the fugitive warrant?
I thought the same thing regarding Mike Huckabee.
IDK if he thought a 60 year old sentence was too long for a 17 year old offender or what the logic there is, but clearly it was the wrong decision.
When a person has a long history of serious criminal behavior or has committed particularly heinous crimes they need to be locked up for good or executed.
Many arrest warrants that are in the NCIC system only specify "local extradition only". Sometimes it will specify next state over or adjoining county only. This is usually because the wanting originating agency lacks the funds in their budget to recover him or her. It costs a lot to fly two officers cross-country to another jurisdiction at last minute ticket prices and then fly them and the prisoner back to face charges for crimes that he or she may not face mandatory detention for, pending trial.
As for Huckabee, Maurice Clemmons will be his "Willie Horton". Because of this I think Huckabee is done.
Many arrest warrants that are in the NCIC system only specify "local extradition only".
That is unfortunate.
Another thing I haven't been able to figure out from the local and national coverage thus far is whether these officers were specifically targeted or if he was just gunning for anyone with a badge and saw the officers on their computers in Forza and decided to attack.
This seems similar to the other recent attack here where the two officers were on the computer in their car and the shooter rolled up on them and fired, killing one.
Quick update - the primary suspect is now in a Seattle neighborhood and SWAT has him surrounded. The news is, as per usual, sketchy at best on purpose, but it looks like our boys in blue are about to move in on their man.
Given the situation, I can only pray that the officers involved make it out safely. Cleary with a perp like this there are absolutely no guarantees.
Let's hope this comes to a conclusion in the next few hours...
Over the past several months I became acquainted with one of the officers (Mark R.), who was helping me line up a class that my agency is hosting.
I found him a class act and extremely generous with his time and assistance.
We are diminished.
I hope one of the officers he killed put a bullet in him and he is found dead.
No, it needs to end like this:
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=41770
ThirdWatcher
11-30-09, 04:50
Many arrest warrants that are in the NCIC system only specify "local extradition only". Sometimes it will specify next state over or adjoining county only. This is usually because the wanting originating agency lacks the funds in their budget to recover him or her. It costs a lot to fly two officers cross-country to another jurisdiction at last minute ticket prices and then fly them and the prisoner back to face charges for crimes that he or she may not face mandatory detention for, pending trial.*
As for Huckabee, Maurice Clemmons will be his "Willie Horton". Because of this I think Huckabee is done.
* and the bad guy is someone else's problem now. How pathetic.
I HOPE this affects Huckabee's political career. His party used to have a law & order platform, but that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. God, I miss Ronald Reagan.
FromMyColdDeadHand
11-30-09, 08:10
Many arrest warrants that are in the NCIC system only specify "local extradition only". Sometimes it will specify next state over or adjoining county only. This is usually because the wanting originating agency lacks the funds in their budget to recover him or her. It costs a lot to fly two officers cross-country to another jurisdiction at last minute ticket prices and then fly them and the prisoner back to face charges for crimes that he or she may not face mandatory detention for, pending trial.
As for Huckabee, Maurice Clemmons will be his "Willie Horton". Because of this I think Huckabee is done.
I've always donated my extra airline miles to the fly-home military programs, but I'd glady donate miles to a send-a-perp to jail flight.
RIP to the 4 officers.
A reminder for everyone to be vigilant and stay in condition yellow.
I hope they burn that house that the perp is hole up in, with him in it.
This POS is still out there. Someone please find him and kill him.
After reading more of his recent atrocities, I just can't believe he was free. What are we becoming?
RIP - Bad guy not caught yet but he has been shot ;)
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Four+Washington+state+police+officers+killed+shooting+sought+questioning/2282821/story.html
SEATTLE - A police SWAT team Monday morning swarmed a Seattle home surrounded overnight but did not find suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons inside.
A murder warrant has been issued for Clemmons, the man suspected of killing four Lakewood, Wash., police officers Sunday in a coffee shop, 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.
Police had surrounded the home late Sunday night and Troyer said the search of the house finished shortly after 7 a.m. Monday morning. Officers searched with a robot before SWAT officers moved in.
There is a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons' capture.
By 7:45 a.m., police had removed the barricade allowing residents access to the neighbourhood.
Clemmons was shot and perhaps seriously wounded by one of the slain officers Sunday morning, Troyer said.
"He has suffered a gunshot wound," Troyer said at a media briefing held just before 3 a.m.
Police know that Clemmons was wounded because they have detained other people — Troyer wouldn't say how many — who helped Clemmons after the shootings.
At the briefing, Troyer said police now consider Clemmons a suspect, rather than merely a "person of interest."
Police don't know the severity of Clemmons' wound, and Troyer said he may already be dead.
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."
The series of events began Sunday at an upscale coffee shop, 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. The first two officers were "flat-out executed," while the third tried to stop the gunman and the fourth fired at him, Troyer said.
Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar has scheduled a news conference Monday afternoon to discuss the officers and the shooting. A community prayer service is planned for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Clemmons has a long criminal record in Arkansas and Washington. He was released from custody 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.
Troyer said a 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.
RIP :(
2009 has been a very deadly year for LE.
A very informative report here: http://www.nleomf.org/TheMemorial/Facts/2009MidYearReport.pdf
SWATcop556
11-30-09, 11:49
No corner of Hell is hot enough!
They think the guy may be on-or around the University of Washington campus as he was seen exiting a bus that runs through the school. Ugh - stay safe kids.
10:34 PT; Seattle PD went to TacOne on their radio traffic a few minutes ago, which means no "news" for us civvies until the guy is either caught...or dead.
Guy is now possibly in Beacon Hill ; a heavily 'forested' park-like area with trails criss-crossing it......
$175,000 for his capture?
Let's go!
11:35a.m. P/T: Seattle PD radio traffic alive with call of "...10 to 12 shots fired, unknown direction..."
Doog
Holy shit.. this dude is a ****in fruitloop
No, he knows what he is doing.
The latest news report on TV said he was hit in the torso. If that info is correct then I would think he is going need medical attention soon.
What kind of POS would help this person after he did what he did is beyond me.
CarlosDJackal
11-30-09, 15:26
RIP.
$175,000 for his capture?
Let's go!
All I need is legal permit and a plane ticket to hunt him down. Anyone? :mad:
I can't believe they let his bail out of his child rape case. He never should have been allowed to post bail.
From this article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,577845,00.html
Clemmons also had at least two confrontations with police earlier this year. During one incident in May, according to the Seattle Times, Clemmons punched a sheriff’s deputy in the face and was charged with seven counts of assault and malicious mischief. In another incident, Clemmons was accused of gathering his wife, Nicole Smith, and young relatives and forcing them to “be naked for at least 5 minutes,” 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 reads.
As part of the child-rape investigation, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Clemmons’ sister in May. She said her brother was “not in his right mind and did not know how he could react when contacted by law enforcement,” a report reads.
“She stated that he was saying that the Secret Service was coming to get him because he had written a letter to the President,” the report continued. “She stated his behavior has become unpredictable and erratic. She suspects he is having a mental breakdown.”
Other relatives said, according to the report, that Clemmons claimed he could fly and that he expected President Obama to visit him to “confirm that he is Messiah in the flesh.”
Clemmons was found competent to stand trial earlier this month on the child-rape and other felony charges by a psychologist at Western State Hospital, court records show.
Clemmons moved to Washington in 2004 after being released from prison in Arkansas, according to state Department of Corrections records.
A series of incidents involving Clemmons was reported as he was being tried in Arkansas on various charges, The Seattle Times reports.
During one court proceeding, Clemmons hid a hinge in his sock, allegedly intending to use it as a weapon. In another trial, Clemmons threw a lock he took from a holding cell toward a bailiff and instead struck his mother, who had come to bring him street clothes, according to court records and news reports. On another occasion, Clemmons reached for a guard's firearm during transport to a courtroom. In yet another incident, a presiding judge ordered Clemmons to be shackled in leg irons and seated next to a uniformed officer because the judge felt Clemmons threatened him.
ThirdWatcher
11-30-09, 15:34
The latest news report on TV said he was hit in the torso. If that info is correct then I would think he is going need medical attention soon.
I bet they're watching Harborview pretty closely.;)
RIP.
All I need is legal permit and a plane ticket to hunt him down. Anyone? :mad:
I can't believe they let his bail out of his child rape case. He never should have been allowed to post bail.
From this article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,577845,00.html
why the hell was he out.
spamsammich
11-30-09, 17:31
10:34 PT; Seattle PD went to TacOne on their radio traffic a few minutes ago, which means no "news" for us civvies until the guy is either caught...or dead.
Guy is now possibly in Beacon Hill ; a heavily 'forested' park-like area with trails criss-crossing it......
Great, my friends and their family live in Beacon Hill. I hope they ventilate that trash heap.
why the hell was he out.
Liberals. Its that simple.
Belmont31R
11-30-09, 17:36
Then Governor Mike Huckabee granted him clemency in Arkansas, and then he committed crimes in WA state where he was let out again. Two gov ****ups.
It's true that the Governor of Arkansas, who happened to be Mike Huckabee, commuted this scum's sentence. The scum bag was recommended by the Arkansas board of correction to have his sentence commuted due to his young age at the time. Huckabee's action allowed the scum to be eligible for parole. It would have happened if the governor's name was Huckabee or Clinton or Bubba.
Beware that he was caught and RETURNED to prison for parole violation after Huckabee's act. That made the governor's action moot in my book. The scum was back in jail, the correction system in Arkansas failed to keep him in the second time. Then he took his crime spree to the state of Washington. Assaulting police officers and child rape in Washington couldn't keep him in jail still. So is that again Huckabee's fault?
I think paying attention to the chain of events that led to this horrible crime revealed that the system failed many times after the commutation.
Sam, that may be the truth of the matter but when it comes to politics, truth is immaterial. Come election time Maurice Clemmons will be Huckabee's "Willie Horton". There will be TV ads, print ads, and commentary associating Huckabee's commutation of Clemmons and the death of four police officers. The word will be that without the commutation Clemmons would have been serving time in Arkansas, safe behind bars, and that Huckabee is to blame for his release and the subsequent murders. Fully true? Not entirely. True enough for politics? More than true.
I'll digress a little more if I may.
If a person who only showed up less than 150 days to work in 4 years, befriended a self admitted domestic terrorist, sat in the pews of a preacher that promoted hatred and said "g.d. America" can be elected president, then a former governor who once commuted the sentence of a (then) common criminal can still have a chance at moving to the White House.
OK, enough of this. The topic is about the slaying of 4 good cops and may they rest in peace.
So this situation is getting worse. Not only have friends and relatives been transporting and harboring the suspect, but it appears that they've been going as far as to call the hotline to send the police on false leads and distract them from his actual whereabouts.
I hope to god this ends soon. These families deserve better.
SWATcop556
11-30-09, 23:44
It's true that the Governor of Arkansas, who happened to be Mike Huckabee, commuted this scum's sentence. The scum bag was recommended by the Arkansas board of correction to have his sentence commuted due to his young age at the time. Huckabee's action allowed the scum to be eligible for parole. It would have happened if the governor's name was Huckabee or Clinton or Bubba.
Beware that he was caught and RETURNED to prison for parole violation after Huckabee's act. That made the governor's action moot in my book. The scum was back in jail, the correction system in Arkansas failed to keep him in the second time. Then he took his crime spree to the state of Washington. Assaulting police officers and child rape in Washington couldn't keep him in jail still. So is that again Huckabee's fault?
I think paying attention to the chain of events that led to this horrible crime revealed that the system failed many times after the commutation.
I'm with Sam. I fail to see how Huckabee's commutation of this guys sentence at the recommendation of the parole board is the cause of the officer's murders. Granted a huge fail on the parole board but with overcrowding and other shit going on in the system, they probably just needed the bed.
He had several more chances, including a judge giving him a bond on child rape, that aided in this tragic situation long after Huckabee.
Hopefully he will not be among the oxygen consuming for much longer and I hope that happens before more people are hurt.
And the friends and family that are helping him are just as guilty as he is in my book.
ThirdWatcher
12-01-09, 00:22
You're right. I didn't want to turn this into a political discussion when I made my comments (which is why I didn't name any political parties). This is about the murder of four fine police officers from one of the most progressive police agencies in the country.
What I take exception with is a system run by the sheeple that refuses to believe there are wolves out there among us. Any person who coddles the wolves among us has no business being in a position of leadership.
I hope he is slowly bleeding out in the cold Seattle rain.
ThirdWatcher
12-01-09, 01:26
I hope he is slowly bleeding out in the cold Seattle rain.
:D
I got to experience a little of that cold Seattle rain in the Battle of Seattle (which coincidentally, began 10 years ago today).
BTW, I just saw the video of Mr. Huckabee on the FoxNews website. I retract any negative comments I've made about him. He is a class act. http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-113009-lakewoodhuckabee,0,5415355.story
Jim Colborn
12-01-09, 06:08
News just coming in. SWAT exchanged gunfire with this scumbag and he lost. DRT.
Goes to show you that initial reports (Wasn't SWAT) are often wrong .
ThirdWatcher
12-01-09, 06:13
Finally rehabilitated!!!
Sad. They got him in the end.
Good riddence to the scumbag. Now I hope the police go after any family members that helped him dodge the cops.
:D
I got to experience a little of that cold Seattle rain in the Battle of Seattle (which coincidentally, began 10 years ago today).
BTW, I just saw the video of Mr. Huckabee on the FoxNews website. I retract any negative comments I've made about him. He is a class act. http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-113009-lakewoodhuckabee,0,5415355.story
He handled it well. What really can he say? I think he's the type of guy who probably genuinely feels bad about what happened. At leats that's how he seems to me.
VooDoo6Actual
12-01-09, 07:41
OUTSTANDING !
John_Wayne777
12-01-09, 07:42
News reports I'm seeing say it wasn't SWAT....they say it was a single officer who saw him in a stolen car. Apparently Senior Scumbag wasn't inclined to come along peacefully, and the officer opened fire.
News reports I'm seeing say it wasn't SWAT....they say it was a single officer who saw him in a stolen car. Apparently Senior Scumbag wasn't inclined to come along peacefully, and the officer opened fire.
They say that lone officer was sharp as a pin. Good man.
ThirdWatcher
12-01-09, 08:00
A beat cop with seven years experience working the nightshift... a very formidable foe for ANY scumbag, believe me. ;)
FromMyColdDeadHand
12-01-09, 08:05
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_re_us/us_officers_shot
Just reading the AP report above. What a messed up monster.
The whole way the police went after him seemed different than what you usually see. The police actually brought in some family members and freinds so that he had less resources? I guess you can hold anyone for 24 hours? I've never heard that before, is it a counter-insurgency type tactic that has filtered back to the US? Still can't believe that his family would help, after the recent crazy behavior cited and shooting the cops. You'd think they would be more afraid of him than anything.
What a tradegy that seems to have had more than a few places where it could have been stopped with out a loss of officers.
ThirdWatcher
12-01-09, 08:30
The police are in the process of arresting those who aided and abetted this scumbag after the murders. They've got the wheel man and are going to arrest some family members and fellow scumbags that tried to help him evade capture.
A beat cop working the night watch was on routine patrol when he observed a car idling with the hood up. He stopped to check it out and ran the plate. The car was stolen and the patrol officer heard someone coming up from behind. The officer exited the patrol car and recognized him as being the bad guy that murdered the Lakewood PD Officers. The officer challenged the bad guy (who had a gun in his possession that he took from one of the fallen officers) and ultimately shot the bad guy. Medic One was called but the bad guy was DRT.
This is from the news conference. I work a few counties east so I don't know anything more.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412772_suspect01.html
News link
The suspect was shot and killed by a Seattle Police patrol officer checking a stolen car when the suspect approached the police car. The officer recognized the person as the suspect and when ordered to stop and show his hands, the suspect ran counter clock wise and attempted to come around the officer. the officer fired his weapon killing the suspect. A gun stolen from the deceased Lakewood Police officer was recovered from the dead suspect.
Good job to the patrol officer.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412772_suspect01.html News link The suspect was shot and killed by a Seattle Police patrol officer checking a stolen car when the suspect approached the police car. The officer recognized the person as the suspect and when ordered to stop and show his hands, the suspect ran counter clock wise and attempted to come around the officer. the officer fired his weapon killing the suspect. A gun stolen from the deceased Lakewood Police officer was recovered from the dead suspect.
I wonder if that was a deliberate or coincidental use of that particular tactic. Didn't work on that cop, but it might have on others.
SeriousStudent
12-01-09, 09:46
I am very glad to hear no additional officers were hurt.
I hope the officer is commended, and that he sails through any legal and administrative proceedings. If there ever was a righteous shoot, this one is it.
I also hope that many hard questions are asked of our legal/political systems, to help prevent such a issue ever again.
And I dearly wish the Devil was filing the points on his pitchfork extra sharp last night, waiting for his newest guest.
M4tographer
12-01-09, 09:50
I also hope that many hard questions are asked of our legal/political systems, to help prevent such a issue ever again.
They already are. With the SPD officer killed last month and Sunday's murders, I have been impressed that not a single peep has been made about 'gun control.' It's all been about how sick these individuals were. Sadly, I think if it had been mass shootings of civilians, that wouldn't have been the case...
And I dearly wish the Devil was filing the points on his pitchfork extra sharp last night, waiting for his newest guest.
x2
This is an extremely sad situation,and the officer who took down the dirtbag Clemmons should certainly receive a commendation.
There's one thing that I believe that can be taken from all this.During the shooting of the officers in the coffee shop,it is still believed,from the latest reports,that one of the officers did in fact inflict a torso hit to Clemmons. Now,this was clearly a sudden,totally unexpected ambush and the officers were way behind the curve to begin with. The hit on Clemmons was obviously not a short term fatal hit,but if it in fact did occur,it simply exemplifies the true warrior mindset of the officer. FIGHT and NEVER give up.
That mindset is a critical element to be possessed by all those at the tip of the spear.
That torso hit may have saved many lives in the long run.
Well done and RIP.
RogerinTPA
12-01-09, 20:36
Excellent! It was the preferred method of dealing with this piece of shit. :cool:
parishioner
12-01-09, 20:51
Excellent! It was the preferred method of dealing with this piece of shit. :cool:
Seriously. No court dates, appeal processes, news stories, no tax money wasted. That is what I call efficient.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j18/Skintop911/MISC/stmicha.jpg
Seriously. No court dates, appeal processes, news stories, no tax money wasted. That is what I call efficient.
And even if they give him death sentence he probably will appeal forever until the day he die. Speaking of how the justice system works in this country!!
They've arrested (they think) everyone who helped this dirt bag. Here's to hoping that they get the rest of their lives behind bars to think about how stupid that was.
Cascades236
12-03-09, 06:41
Has Obama made any statements about this yet?
Please, remember most the nine children left behind as a result of the murder of their fathers and mother.
Donations, which will go directly to the established trust funds, may be placed through the LPD guild website:
http://www.lpig.us/
Mark, you were a great friend, cop and family man. God speed brother.
RIP to Greg, Ronnie and Tina and prayers to all of their families.
**This link will have updated information on the memorial for Greg, Mark, Ronnie and Tina, as it becomes available (LE staging, procession, ceremony, etc)**
http://columbia.co.pierce.wa.us/crisiscom/
An obit on Mark, with a similar piece to follow on Tina, Ronnie and Greg:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c...ingrenninger04m.html (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2010420045_shootingrenninger04m.html)
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/MarkandNick.jpg
FAMILY PHOTO
Lakewood Sgt. Mark Renninger is shown with his son, Nicholas, about two years ago.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/MarkWSTOA.jpg
Washington State Tactical Officers Association
Sgt. Mark Renninger teaches during basic SWAT team training at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Richland. He was the leader of a interjurisdictional team called the Metro SWAT team.
By Katherine Long
Seattle Times staff reporter
This is the first of four news obituaries on the slain Lakewood Police officers.
He was a former Army Ranger, a nationally known SWAT team trainer and the rock of his department — a man with such charisma and natural leadership skills that when he showed up at the scene, his fellow officers knew things were going to be all right.
So it seems an especially cruel irony that Lakewood Police Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, was gunned down — executed, his fellow officers say — before he got a chance to fight back.
The four Lakewood police officers who were killed Sunday "were executed because they were cops," said Lakewood Police Officer Matt Brown. "But none of them saw their lives that way."
Sgt. Renninger saw himself as a family man, Brown said. When he left the office, he left police work behind him.
The Puyallup father of three "was very, very devoted to his wife and kids," said his brother Michael, of Bethlehem, Penn.
Sgt. Renninger met his wife, Kim, after he moved to Washington. The couple had three children: Ashley, 15, Allyson, 12, and Nicholas, 3. "He always did different things to make sure his kids were having a good time," his brother said.
Michael Renninger brought his own family out to Washington for a visit with his big brother in July, and said it was one of the best family vacations he'd ever had. The families took trips to Seattle and Mount Rainier, and went to a Mariners game. They barbecued on the grill at Sgt. Renninger's handsome newer home in a Puyallup subdivision.
This week, police officers from area jurisdictions kept round-the-clock vigils at that home. Neighbors dropped flowers off at a small street-corner memorial to Sgt. Renninger, while hundreds visited a much larger memorial to all four officers in front of the Lakewood Police Department.
Michael's been told that his brother was one of two officers who were shot first by gunman Maurice Clemmons, and that he had no chance to react.
"That's what's hurting me, thinking how well he was trained and how devoted he was to the training," he said.
"This was such a cowardly act, and he had no chance."
Mark Renninger grew up in Bethlehem, Penn., the second of six children. He was a star football player at Liberty High School and, as a senior, was courted by coaches to play college football. Instead, he chose to join the Army, Michael Renninger said.
Growing up, Michael said his brother was "very funny, just great to be around." Remembering the day his big brother left for Army boot camp, Michael choked back his emotions.
"He was 18, I was 12," he said. "I was at the recruiter's station, and I remember crying because he was leaving."
In the 1990s, Sgt. Renninger was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., when he was accepted into the elite Army Rangers. Mike Sienda, who now works in Army Intelligence in Charlottesville, Va., got to know him well.
The group would parachute into a remote area, navigate through the woods at night and carry out a mission. In those exercises, Renninger shone. "Mark was a leader even when he was a junior soldier," Sienda said.
But Sgt. Renninger was also personable and well-liked by his fellow officers. "He was a great kid, always funny, cracking jokes," Sienda said. "He had a lot of friends. He was an easygoing person.
"When I think back on those times, those were some of the best times in my career because of Mark," said Sienda, who kept up with Sgt. Renninger over the years by phone and e-mail.
After Fort Benning, Sgt. Renninger moved to Fort Lewis to join the Second Ranger Battalion. When he left the Army, it was no surprise to brother Michael that he chose police work.
"He had this strong will and strong desire to be there and to help people," Michael said. "Law enforcement was his passion."
Sgt. Renninger joined the Tukwila Police Department and worked there from 1996 to 2004, and also served as president of the Tukwila police guild. "He just really had a natural skill for police work," said Tukwila Assistant Police Chief Mike Villa.
"He was very persistent in pursuing the criminals. He was also a very intelligent and smart police officer — he didn't take unnecessary risks."
Villa said Sgt. Renninger had an innate ability to make split-second decisions and worked well in a team. "I've been on many SWAT call-outs with him, and he consistently operated well in that environment," Villa said. "He was one of my top performers."
As with the other officers, Villa, too, is stunned that one of his best-trained officers, a man with a special talent for recognizing threats and a trainer who emphasized officer safety, could be gunned down in a senseless shooting.
"It's really difficult," Villa said. "Mark had a lot of friends at Tukwila. He was working in a world where we're dealing with criminals who may want to hurt us. Mark was real cognizant of that."
In 2004, he left Tukwila to join the newly formed Lakewood department. He became the leader of an interjurisdictional SWAT team, called the Metro SWAT team, made up of smaller cities around Tacoma.
"There are few people I look up to, and Mark was one of the few," said Brown, the Lakewood officer, who is also a member of the Metro SWAT team. "You knew when he showed up that things were going to be all right."
Sgt. Renninger was on the executive board of the Washington State Tactical Officers Association, a statewide law-enforcement group dedicated to SWAT team training. And he was known around the United States for his SWAT training work, said Tom Fitzgerald, the association's president and a leader on the Seattle SWAT team.
When a SWAT incident took place elsewhere in the country, Sgt. Renninger would call the officers who were involved and find out what went well and what went wrong, always looking for ways to improve SWAT tactics, said Sgt. Jeff Selleg of the Port of Seattle Police, who is also on the association's executive board.
"He had such a vast network of friends and contacts," Selleg said.
"He was tremendously dedicated to his family," he added.
In addition to his wife and children, he is survived by four brothers, Matthew, Marty, Michael and John; a sister, Melissa; and his mother, Nancy.
Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
Lakewood Police Officer Ronald Owens was always smiling (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2010429569_owensobit05m.html)
By Mark Rahner and Katherine Long
Seattle Times staff reporters
His name was Ronald Owens II, but his friends all called him Ronnie.
He was the Lakewood cop who always had a big smile on his face. A good basketball player, a passionate NASCAR fan who wore his hair in a curly blond mullet, and a devoted dad who spent almost all of his days off with his 7-year-old daughter.
If you met him, his fellow officers said, you'd want to be his friend.
Officer Owens, 37, a second-generation police officer and former Washington State Patrol trooper, was one of the four Lakewood officers shot and killed on Sunday by gunman Maurice Clemmons as they worked on police paperwork at a Parkland coffee shop.
"He was a very dedicated father, first and foremost," said Lakewood Police Officer Jeff Martin, who knew him for 11 years and counted Officer Owens as his best friend.
Martin said Officer Owens, who was divorced, spent almost all of off-duty time with his daughter. He attended all of her school and family functions, rode bicycles with her, and treated her to events like "Disney on Ice."
"He was very carefree and always ready to make you laugh," Martin said. "Not a negative bone in his body. He never complained. With being a police officer, a lot of the negativity you see over time catches up with you, and he just had the unique ability not to dwell on it."
Officer Owens was drawn to police work by his father, also named Ronald Owens, who was a sergeant in the Tacoma Police Department and retired in 1980. He died in 2006.
His fellow officers say Officer Owens' easygoing nature made him fun to be around, but he never hesitated to pitch in and do things for others — whether it was helping a fellow officer process evidence or changing a motorist's tire on the side of the road.
"I can remember him stopping for a disabled vehicle one night," said Washington State Patrol Trooper Al Havenner, who worked with Officer Owens for several years while he was with the Washington State Patrol. "It was raining. I rolled up on him to see what was going on, and he was changing a tire — not angry but smiling about it. It was what he did."
Officer Owens served with the state patrol from 1997 to 2004, and he joined the Lakewood Police Department when it was formed in 2004.
"There was probably no one better — you didn't even have to ask him for help," Havenner said. "He was always the first one there to lend a hand. In our line of work, we answer a lot of calls for service, and he was always the guy to grab the radio and say he'd be en route to a call."
Havenner described Officer Owens as a man who treated everyone with respect — even people who didn't do much to deserve it.
"I remember one instance, it was a DUI, and it was the kind of DUI who was very belligerent," Havenner said, "but Ronnie kept his composure and treated the guy with the utmost respect. That's a rare breed in law enforcement, and that's who Ronnie was."
Lakewood Fire District Capt. Mike Harn also saw that side of him when the two worked together on calls.
"Sometimes I don't know how the cops do it," Harn said. "He was able to keep a positive attitude and treat people with respect who may not have deserved respect. You'd kind of like to emulate that."
Officer Owens was also "extremely loyal to his friends," Martin said. "You could have a private conversation with Ronnie — and it would absolutely remain private, period."
Officer Owens and Sgt. Mark Renninger, who also was killed in the shooting, were both NASCAR fans. "They would talk about engines and torque," Lakewood Officer Mike Wiley said, and once they started talking NASCAR, no one could get them to stop.
Officer Owens had an unusually close relationship with Lakewood Fire District firefighters. Before the Lakewood Police Department building was constructed, some of the Lakeview police force was stationed in a building near the fire department, and Officer Owens was one of several who came over often to share dinner or Sunday breakfast.
"Oh man, he's about the nicest guy on the planet," said Harn, who got to know Officer Owens from dinners at the station and charity basketball games between the two departments.
"He always had a smile on his face."
Officer Owens' family released this statement to the Tacoma News Tribune:
"Ronnie Owens was first and foremost a loving and devoted father. He lived his entire life in Parkland and was honored to serve this community. Our family would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers. He will be greatly missed by all."
Officer Owens is survived by his mother, two sisters and his daughter.
Mark Rahner: 206-464-8259 or mrahner@seattletimes.com. Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c...richardsobit06m.html (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2010436031_shootingrichardsobit06m.html)
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/GregRichardsSeattleTimesObit.jpg
Officer Gregory Richards: Loving family man was 'the golden boy'
They called him Perma-grin for the smile seemingly always on his face.
Officer Gregory Richards, 42, was the glass-is-half-full guy, the one who saw the better half of any situation, said his widow, Kelly. Married nearly 18 years ago, she met Officer Richards at the H.D. Hotspurs bar in Kent, when she turned 21 and was old enough to go out dancing with her girlfriends at a club.
She was working at a gas station, selling sandwiches and working the cash register. He was working as a timber grader for Simpson Timber. He was different from other men she had dated, she said: almost angelic.
"He was too good to be true, almost. I thought, what the heck, I am going to get him," Richards said. And as for her friends? "They all said, 'We were so jealous of you, we all wanted a Greg,' " she said. "And I had him.
"Mine."
Born in Lynwood, Calif., on Jan. 4, 1967, Officer Richards began playing the drums at age 8, developing what would become a lifelong passion for music.
He played in the marching band at Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., where he graduated in 1985. No ho-hum school ensemble, the band traveled all the way to Washington, D.C., to play for the second inaugural of President Reagan.
As an adult, drumming in a rock band was his release and fun — the only thing he liked better than a big slice of Costco apple pie, attacking projects in his Graham, Pierce County, yard, or playing with his three children, Kelly said.
"He could be somebody different behind the drum set. He was a rocker at heart; that was his wild side," she said.
After high school, he enlisted in the Army in 1985 and served in the infantry until 1989 at Fort Lewis, in C Company, 2nd Battalion. He earned a Good Conduct Medal, a humanitarian-service medal and a marksman badge.
Officer Richards tried out for the state patrol, but didn't get in. "He said, 'I guess I wasn't supposed to be a cop,' " Kelly said. But he tried again at the Kent police force and started working there in 2001. He transferred to the Lakewood force in 2004.
He took to police work, mostly enjoying the friendships with his fellow officers. "He loved going to work every single day," Kelly said.
But then, Officer Richards was that way, finding a way to enjoy just about anything — and make things better for the people around him, his friends and family said. "When I was in Vietnam, he sent me an In-N-Out Burger in a coffee can," said his brother Gary, of Homeland, Calif., who shared a lust for the chain's burgers with Officer Richards.
"It took about two weeks to get there," he recalled. "I didn't dare eat it, it wasn't in real good shape. But that was the most awesome thing."
His sister Gabrielle Boole of Puyallup baby-sat Officer Richards when he was a toddler. It made sense to her that the baby brother of the family wound up being a cop. "He was the golden boy. I was the one in trouble, and he was the one telling on me," Boole said. "He was kind of a policeman back then. He was just the sweetest little kid, always smiling and laughing, as he was as an adult."
Everyone talks about his sense of humor, even his kids. "He was a weirdo, in a good way," said 15-year old daughter Jami-Mae, high praise from any teenager. "He would dance in front of the TV while you were trying to watch it."
Officer Richards and his family moved around a lot, said Barbara Belshay of Graham, a friend of Kelly's since grade school. "It was get a house, sell a house, rent a place. They could never find the right one; it was too much, or the school wasn't good; it was always something," she said.
They finally found the right house in Graham just about a year ago and threw themselves into redoing the yard.
With Kelly a stay-at-home mom and Officer Richards on a police officer's pay, the couple couldn't afford ornamental stonework. So they gathered rocks from vacant lots in a wheelbarrow until their hands blistered, to decorate beauty-bark accents in the yard.
Next came a gazebo, made by Officer Richards with help from friends and neighbors — and so close to being complete. He just finished putting in a cement parking pad for his cruiser. "He loved that patrol car; he kept it so clean," Kelly said. "It was spotless. He would be out there vacuuming it."
The Richardses loved everything about their new home, Belshay said: "They liked the neighbors, and the house was big enough and the payment was right. It was close to family, and the schools were good. They loved it here."
A needlepoint scroll hanging in their kitchen seemed to say it all: "Having a place to go: a home. Having someone to love: a family. Having both: a blessing."
Kelly said her husband often told her: "I could die tomorrow, I'd be happy. I have everything I want."
Before he died, Officer Richards was the one who got off the shot that hit Maurice Clemmons in the abdomen.
Among the hardest things for Kelly to face are her husband's uniforms, still hanging in the closet, she said. And this: "I keep thinking he is going to come in the door."
Besides his wife Kelly, sister Gabrielle, brother Gary, and daughter Jami-Mae, Officer Richards is survived by his father, James, of Peoria, Ariz.; son Austin, 16; son Gavin, 10; sister Gayle Goellner, of Moorpark, Calif.; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, Freda Mae Bouchard.
Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com
-------------------------------
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c...tingrichards05m.html (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010429525_shootingrichards05m.html)
Officer Richards' wife knew he would do his duty, no matter what
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter
GRAHAM, Pierce County — It was the moment every police officer's family knows can come, and hopes never does. For Kelly Richards, it came Sunday.
Her husband, Officer Greg Richards of the Lakewood Police Department, had gotten up in the dark to begin his morning shift and was out of the house by the time she got up.
She wanted to watch something on TV that morning — and switched it on.
"The first thing I see is four officers from Lakewood shot at the Forza Coffee shop. He had just driven by there a few days ago and said, 'That is where we have coffee,' " Richards said.
"I was hoping still. But what are you hoping, for someone else's wife or husband to be dead?
"I called everybody who might know. I called 911, my brother-in-law Steve who is a Tacoma police officer. I got in the car and headed to Lakewood. Then I got a call from Steve," she said.
"You need to go home," he told her. So she did.
"And I waited."
Before long, an assistant chief for the department arrived at her door.
"I knew. I feared it, I couldn't think about it. This was the job he loved, and the friends he loved, this paid the bills," she said. "I put it in the back of my mind all the time, said it won't happen."
She had told her husband what she wanted if he ever found himself cornered.
"I had always told him, come home to us, get out, find a way out, if you can't shoot and kill him," Richards said. But she said she knew, like his colleagues, he would do his duty, no matter what.
It was Greg Richards, 42, who got off the shot that wounded the killer, Maurice Clemmons.
As the manhunt went on, Kelly Richards said she thought, "Let him die from his wound, let him die from my husband's shots. He would have been so proud if he could have killed that guy."
And she thought this, of the man who killed the father of their three children: "I want him to suffer. Like we are suffering."
Lakewood Officer Chris Sorrells was the first to respond to the scene.
"I saw Greg in the doorway face up, but I didn't know it was him," said Sorrells, who didn't recognize him.
"I had to look at his name tag to figure out who he was," Sorrells said. "And then I just kind of froze."
Friends since they started in the department in 2004, Richards was the drummer in the rock band they played in together. "I said, 'I don't want to be here.' "
They had trained in the academy to protect themselves, Sorrells said.
"But someone walking into a coffee shop, you are minding your own business, that is just not something you could prepare for," Sorrells said. "Unless you want to be a robot, and not trust anyone. What kind of person would you be?
"They were not doing police work, not doing a traffic stop. The only reason they are dead is they were wearing a uniform."
Tina....
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c...tinggriswold07m.html (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010442902_shootinggriswold07m.html)
Lakewood Officer Tina Griswold was a 'ball of fire' in a tiny package
By Lynn Thompson
Seattle Times staff reporter
Her nickname was Tinkerbell, for her tiny stature, tireless energy and fierce loyalty to family and fellow officers.
Lakewood police Officer Tina Griswold, 40, told friends that she loved being a cop. And during her 14 years in law enforcement, she impressed those who knew her with her toughness and willingness to take on any challenge.
"She was a little ball of fire," said Matt Brown, a fellow Lakewood officer. "As small as she was, she was one of the biggest cops I knew. She would go into anything, anywhere."
Officer Griswold, a mother of two, was one of four Lakewood officers shot to death Nov. 29 as they sat in a local coffee shop before their shift. Friends say they often saw Officer Griswold and other Lakewood officers on their breaks or working on their laptops around town.
"It could have been any one of us. We all go out for coffee," said Ken Kollmann, who worked with Officer Griswold in the Lacey Police Department.
Officer Griswold was born in Port Angeles and grew up in Shelton. She graduated from Shelton High School in 1987.
She considered a career in the military, but decided to marry her high-school sweetheart, said her mother, Genie DeLong. Their daughter Nicole was born in 1988. The marriage failed, and Officer Griswold and her daughter moved back home for a time.
"Tina struggled," DeLong said. "She was a single mom, and she just didn't realize her potential."
Officer Griswold's father had worked in law enforcement and corrections. His daughter followed in his footsteps. She worked as a 911 dispatcher in Shelton and then applied to be a reserve city police officer. But her small size — 4 feet, 11 inches and about 100 pounds — made other recruits skeptical.
She prepared for the reserve's fitness test by undertaking an intensive training regimen. When it came time to do the minimum 30 push-ups, her mother said some of the other officers asked out loud if she planned to do "girlie push-ups."
Officer Griswold told them to start counting. She did the same type as the men, and when she had exceeded 30, she kept on going until the other recruits started clapping and cheering her on.
"That's the way it was for Tina," DeLong said. "She won people over."
Officer Griswold became a commissioned Shelton police officer in 1995. She hadn't been on the job long when a call came into 911 that a child had stolen a police car. The "child" was Officer Griswold, and she was mercilessly teased about the incident.
"We kidded her that we could get her two phone books to sit on or a booster seat," said Harry Heldreth, a Shelton patrol officer.
Officer Griswold joined the Lacey Police Department in 1999. In 2003, she became the department's first woman officer — and one of only a handful of women officers in the state — to complete SWAT basic training.
"She was tough as nails and incredibly hardworking," said John Suessman, Lacey Police Department's commander of support services. She was also funny and had an ear-to-ear smile, he said
"Big, bad, mean people would turn to her and start cooperating," he said. "She was one of our stars."
Officer Griswold joined Lakewood's new police force in 2004. She worked at Mann Middle School as a school resource officer for the next four years. She participated in a federal anti-gang initiative that helps students develop positive relationships and avoid delinquency.
Loraine Curry, a sixth-grade teacher at Mann, remembers the time a student brought a gun to school. She said Officer Griswold raced down the hall, took the gun and calmed everyone.
"I was in shock, but she said, 'It's OK.' She was very confident, very calming," Curry said. "We felt safe with her in the building."
Officer Griswold befriended the staff and brought in samples of new recipes — tortilla soup, meatloaf, curries. She took some of the staff to a police benefit dance where she pulled girlfriends onto the dance floor. She brought in pictures of her son Marcus, now 9, for Rose Scheidt, a Mann secretary who didn't have grandchildren.
Mann staff said Officer Griswold became another educator at the school. She talked to students about making good choices, about having the power to change their lives. She told them that some choices she'd made as a teenager took her in the wrong direction. She told them that they could turn their life into what they wanted it to be.
"She showed them that even though she was small, she could do a big job," said Sonia Miller, another secretary at Mann Middle School.
While working at Mann, she met her current husband, Paul Griswold, who was stationed at Fort Lewis. Paul grew up in Kansas and served two tours of duty in Iraq.
She told friends that the first time they saw each other, in the parking lot of Paul's church, the attraction was "instantaneous." They were married on her birthday, Jan. 28, 2007.
Officer Griswold loved working with children, but told friends she missed being on the streets. She returned to patrol in summer 2008. She also became involved in politics, attending some Tea Party rallies at the state Capitol this year to protest health-care proposals, Lakewood Police Guild President Brian Wurts said.
While Officer Griswold no longer worked at Mann, the staff there said that during the past school year, she would pull her patrol car into the school parking lot, race in with her ear pressed to her shoulder radio and find out how everyone was doing. She told them her daughter and son were fine, that she and Paul were doing well. She then would race back to her patrol car.
Scheidt was at a Christmas play in Seattle on the afternoon of the shootings. When she returned from intermission, a friend put a hand over hers. The friend had received a text message that said one of the dead officers was "a little blond with a pony tail."
"My Tina," Scheidt said.
Officer Griswold is survived by husband Paul, daughter Nicole, son Marcus, parents Genie and Stan DeLong of Post Falls, Idaho, brother Thomas DeLong of Port Angeles, and sisters Tammy, Teresa and Tiffany.
Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com
VooDoo6Actual
12-08-09, 15:17
DRT
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e225/teehee321/DRTSuspectWashingtonState.jpg
Some photos from the last several days:
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/FullInteriorviewT-DomeMemorial-1.jpg
The memorial service at the Tacoma Dome
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/RenningerPAprocessioncaisson.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/RenningerPAprocessioncaissonatcemet.jpg
Bethlehem, PA services
NinjaMedic
12-11-09, 22:23
That picture of the perp already got one thread deleted. Perhaps you should save everyone some trouble and remove the picture of the scumbag.
DocHolliday01
12-12-09, 00:31
That picture of Mark with his young son is tough to take in. RIP Brothers and Sister.
Cascades236
12-12-09, 03:45
Some shitbag tried to get t-shirts made up in Lakewood with Clemmons picture on it with the words" True Gangsta" and "Cop Killa" on it. Pathetic
ThirdWatcher
12-12-09, 04:50
True Gangsta = Dead Gangsta
RIP Brothers and Sister.
Inside the Forza...
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q270/KUTF/ForzaFramedMemorialwithLPDpatrol.jpg
SWATcop556
12-15-09, 16:58
KUTF, thank you for posting the obits and funeral info. They will all be missed in the LE community.
KUTF great pics and information. About 25 from my dept (including myself) attended the memorial. It was moving to see the support.
Everyone, watch your six out there,
N8dawg16
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