SEATTLE – The main suspect in the murder of four US police officers, who were shot as they sat in a coffee shop on Sunday, eluded a police swat team yesterday who had surrounded a house 30 miles from Seattle.
A murder warrant has been issued for Maurice Clemmons (37) who is suspected of killing the four Lakewood, Washington, police officers. It was thought the gunman might have been wounded at the coffee shop by one of his victims.
Police surrounded the house late on Sunday night and a negotiator used a loudspeaker 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.”
Mr Clemmons (37), who had a lengthy prison sentence commuted almost a decade ago, became the prime target in the search for the killer of Sgt Mark Renninger (39) and officers Ronald Owens (37), Tina Griswold (40) and Greg Richards (42). He is believed to have been in the area around the time of the shooting.
Investigators said they knew of no reason why Mr Clemmons would open fire on the four 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 the spokesman, who described 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. This wasn’t something where the windows were shot up and there bullets sprayed around the place. The bullets hit their targets.”
Mr Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history. He was arrested recently and charged in Washington state for assaulting a police officer and for second-degree rape of a child. Using a bail bondsman, he posted $150,000 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, Mr Clemmons is accused of punching a sheriff’s deputy in the face. In another, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.
“The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon and that he was Jesus,” a police report said. Police 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,” the spokesman said.
In 1989, Mr Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was granted parole in 2000 after being given a 95-year prison sentence.
Mr Clemmons later violated his parole, was returned to prison and released in 2004. – (AP)