Police searching for the killer of four officers gunned down in a coffee shop in a Seattle suburb used a loudspeaker and explosions early yesterday morning to prod a man apparently holed up in a Seattle house to give himself up.
Police around the region had been searching for Maurice Clemmons, 37, whom they say was near the coffee shop some 48km away from the Seattle house.
Officers surrounding the house shone lights on the house and called out to Clemmons 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 nearby photographer.
But shortly thereafter, police began using sirens outside the house, and there were several loud bangs before the negotiator resumed speaking.
“This is one of the toughest decisions you’ll make in your life, but you need to man up,” the negotiator said.
Clemmons, 37, who had a lengthy prison sentence commuted by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee nearly a decade ago, became the prime target on Sunday in the search for the killer of Lakewood Police Sergeant 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 Pierce County Sherriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer declined to say what evidence might link him to the shooting.
Seattle Police spokesman Jeff Kappel declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations; earlier he had said officers weren’t sure Clemmons was even in the house.
“We’re not going to give you a blow-by-blow,” Kappel said.
A few minutes later, more bangs were followed by the sound of breaking glass and then a louder explosion.
Investigators say they know of no reason that Clemmons or anyone else might have had to open fire on the four officers as they sat working on their laptops early on 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.”
Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft, the sheriff’s office said.
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 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.
The four officers were with the 100-member police department of Lakewood, which adjoins the unincorporated area of Parkland.
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. “We hope that he hit him.”
An electronic tracking bracelet police believe Clemmons was wearing at the insistence of the bail-bond company was found cut off by police on Sunday, Troyer said. Clemmons is believed to have associates who have helped him evade police in the past, Troyer said.
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