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4 police officers killed in Wash. coffee shop

Sheriff's official: Gunman opened fire in 'execution'-style attack

by: msnb.com news service

 

PARKLAND, Wash. - A gunman walked into a coffee shop and shot and killed four police officers Sunday morning in what sheriff's officials described as a targeted "execution."  The officers were sitting in the cafe at a strip mall near the Tacoma suburb of Parkland with their laptop computers, preparing for their day shifts, when a man came in and opened fire, Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

 

The officers were obviously targeted because they were in full uniform, their marked patrol cars were parked outside and no one else was shot at, Troyer said.  "This was more of an execution. He walked in with the mind of shooting police officers," Troyer said.

 

It wasn't immediately known if any of the officers were able to return fire. They were declared dead at the scene.  Troyer said two employees and a few customers were in the Forza Coffee Company shop at the time but no one else was hurt. "As you can imagine they are all traumatized," he said.

 

Authorities scoured the area for the gunman, who fled from the coffee shop on foot and may have gotten into a nearby vehicle. The shooting suspect was described as a "scruffy"-faced black man in his 20s or 30s, 5 feet 7 to 5 feet 10 and wearing a black jacket over a gray hooded sweatshirt, and blue jeans.

 

"We are in the process of searching multiple locations," Troyer said.  Nearby McChord Air Force Base was put on alert.  No advance threats.


The victims were three males and one female, all officers with the Lakewood Police Department southwest of Tacoma, Troyer said.  There were no specific advance threats against the officers, Troyer said.

 

A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to those responsible.

"This is an example of the danger that police officers and deputy sheriffs and state troopers face every day," Sheriff Paul Pastor said.  "The person or people who did this not only harmed us, they harmed the good that we can do in the community."  There was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer, Troyer said. The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalized. 


The Forza coffee shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.

 

Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was OK and being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was with the families of the police officers.  "I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," he said.

Streets around the coffee shop were blocked off late Sunday morning, and a police helicopter hovered over a large crowd of investigators.

 

Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told The News Tribune of Tacoma 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.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was "shocked and horrified" by the killings.

"Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe," she said in a statement. "My heart goes out to the family, friends and co-workers of these officers, as well as the entire law enforcement community."

 

Seattle police shooting

On Oct. 31, 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.   Authorities say the man 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 days after the Seattle slaying after being shot by officers surrounding an apartment complex south of Seattle where he was staying. He remains hospitalized in stable condition and is reportedly paralyzed from the waist down.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34194867#34194867

 



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