PARKLAND, Wash. — Four Seattle-area police officers were shot to death in a coffee shop Sunday morning in what officials called a brazen ambush by a lone gunman.
At least one officer apparently fought his way to the shop’s door and returned fire, possibly wounding the shooter, authorities said.
The three men and one woman attached to the 100-member Lakewood Police Department were conducting a routine pre- shift briefing over their laptop computers at the Forza Coffee Shop, near McChord Air Force Base, about 35 miles south of Seattle.
“It was definitely an ambush, target situation. . . . It was not a robbery,” said Pierce County sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Troyer. “We have our work cut out for us.”
Investigators identified Maurice Clemmons, 37, a man with an extensive criminal past, as a “person of interest” in the ambush.
Clemmons was arrested recently and charged in Pierce County with third-degree assault on a police officer and second-degree rape of a child, authorities said.
The slain officers, in uniform and wearing bulletproof vests, were pronounced dead at the scene. They were identified as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards, 42.
Troyer said investigators believe two officers were shot dead while sitting in the shop and a third was killed after standing up. The fourth apparently struggled with the gunman out the doorway and “gave up a good fight,” getting off a few shots before he was either shot there or succumbed to earlier wounds.
“We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight . . . that he fought the guy all the way out the door,” Troyer said.
Two baristas and several other customers were neither targeted nor injured during the 8:15 a.m. shootings.
Police took into custody a man who called 911 and claimed to be the shooter. He was ruled out as a suspect but faces charges in connection with the false report, an official said.
The slayings stunned a community that only recently buried another police officer, who was shot to death in his parked patrol car in Seattle. The suspect in that case was shot during his arrest and remains hospitalized.
Investigators said there had been no threats against the Lakewood Police Department or any of the officers killed Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
