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Suspect in officer killings eludes law in Seattle
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-01 05:52 SEATTLE: A heavily armed SWAT team stormed a Seattle home Monday where they thought they had cornered the suspect in the slaying of four police officers at a coffee shop, only to find out that he was not in the house and still on the loose.
"If he didn't get a ride out of there, he could still be in the area," Troyer said. Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel said there was evidence Clemmons at one point was on the property, but officers could not determine whether he was in the house itself. Kappel would not describe what the evidence was, but said it was a "good tip" that led them to the home.
At one point, what sounded like gunshots rang through the neighborhood, but Kappel said no shots were fired. Troyer said warrants for first-degree murder have been issued against Clemmons in the killings of the officers from the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood who were gunned down in a coffee shop on Sunday morning at the start of their shifts. Clemmons has a long criminal history, including a long prison sentence commuted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee nearly a decade ago, and a recent arrest for allegedly assaulting a police officer in Washington. Authorities allege he killed Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42, as they worked on their laptop computers at the beginning of their shifts. Clemmons is believed to have been in the area of the coffee shop around the time of the shooting, but Troyer declined to say what evidence might link him to the shooting. Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Dave McDonald confirmed Monday that investigators searching the coffee shop had recovered a handgun carried by the shooter, but he did not know if it was the weapon used in Sunday's shootings. McDonald would not say what type of weapon it is. Investigators say they know of no reason for gunning down the officers, but court documents indicate Clemmons is delusional and mentally unstable. "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, about 35 miles 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." Officer Richards' sister-in-law, Melanie Burwell, called the shooting "senseless." "He didn't have a mean bone in his body," she said. "If there were more people in the world like Greg, things like this wouldn't happen. Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas. He was also recently charged in Washington state with assaulting a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child. Using a bail bondsman, he posted $150,000 - only $15,000 of his own money - and was released from jail last week. |
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