Roy
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Gee thanks Gov. Huckabee. This guy really deserved a second chance...
Official: Police kill suspect in cop shootings
Report: Ex-con wanted over coffee shop slayings is shot in Seattle street
BREAKING NEWS
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 6:09 a.m. CT, Tues., Dec . 1, 2009
SEATTLE - Seattle police have fatally shot the suspect in the slayings of four police officers, an official said Tuesday.
Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot early Tuesday in a Seattle neighborhood.
Clemmons had been wanted in connection with the gunning down four police officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Lakewood, a suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Citing a police source, The Seattle Times reported Clemmons was standing outside in South Kenyon Street when he was confronted by officers. The source said Clemmons challenged the officers and was shot around 2:40 a.m. local time.
The announcement came after dozens of police officers fanned out over two counties, storming homes and canvassing city streets with dogs.
Earlier, police said Clemmons had received help since the Sunday morning shooting from a network of friends and family who gave him places to stay, medical aid, rides and money, police said. Officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect's gunshot wound.
"We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up," Ed Troyer told reporters.
Police believe people close to Clemmons misled officers, and Troyer said anyone who helped him could face charges. Clemmons' sister wasn't in custody late Monday, and her name wasn't released.
Authorities said the gunman singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.
Increasingly erratic
Police said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.
Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."
Police surrounded a house in a Seattle neighborhood late Sunday following a tip Clemmons had been dropped off there. After an all-night siege, a SWAT team entered the home and found it empty. But police said Clemmons had been there.
Police frantically chased leads on Monday, searching multiple spots in the Seattle and Tacoma area and at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons.
Authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup truck belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside. They posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons' arrest and alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
The Seattle Times reported that detectives had believed Clemmons has access to several weapons, including rifles, shotguns and handguns,
According to the Seattle Times, detectives were actively are filtering through more than 350 tips.
Authorities in two states were criticized amid revelations that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.
Huckabee cited Clemmons' youth in granting the request. But Clemmons quickly reverted to his criminal past, violated his parole and was returned to prison. He was released again in 2004.
"This guy should have never been on the street," said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood. "Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out."
Huckabee said on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night that Clemmons was allowed back on the street because prosecutors failed to file paperwork in time.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons' parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee's comments were "red herrings."
"My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did," Jegley said.
Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse.
But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.
Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, 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 Pierce County sheriff's report said.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34194122/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)
Official: Police kill suspect in cop shootings
Report: Ex-con wanted over coffee shop slayings is shot in Seattle street
BREAKING NEWS
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 6:09 a.m. CT, Tues., Dec . 1, 2009
SEATTLE - Seattle police have fatally shot the suspect in the slayings of four police officers, an official said Tuesday.
Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot early Tuesday in a Seattle neighborhood.
Clemmons had been wanted in connection with the gunning down four police officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Lakewood, a suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Citing a police source, The Seattle Times reported Clemmons was standing outside in South Kenyon Street when he was confronted by officers. The source said Clemmons challenged the officers and was shot around 2:40 a.m. local time.
The announcement came after dozens of police officers fanned out over two counties, storming homes and canvassing city streets with dogs.
Earlier, police said Clemmons had received help since the Sunday morning shooting from a network of friends and family who gave him places to stay, medical aid, rides and money, police said. Officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect's gunshot wound.
"We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up," Ed Troyer told reporters.
Police believe people close to Clemmons misled officers, and Troyer said anyone who helped him could face charges. Clemmons' sister wasn't in custody late Monday, and her name wasn't released.
Authorities said the gunman singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.
Increasingly erratic
Police said they aren't sure what prompted Clemmons to shoot the officers as they did paperwork on their laptops. Clemmons was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.
Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."
Police surrounded a house in a Seattle neighborhood late Sunday following a tip Clemmons had been dropped off there. After an all-night siege, a SWAT team entered the home and found it empty. But police said Clemmons had been there.
Police frantically chased leads on Monday, searching multiple spots in the Seattle and Tacoma area and at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons.
Authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup truck belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside. They posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons' arrest and alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
The Seattle Times reported that detectives had believed Clemmons has access to several weapons, including rifles, shotguns and handguns,
According to the Seattle Times, detectives were actively are filtering through more than 350 tips.
Authorities in two states were criticized amid revelations that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.
Huckabee cited Clemmons' youth in granting the request. But Clemmons quickly reverted to his criminal past, violated his parole and was returned to prison. He was released again in 2004.
"This guy should have never been on the street," said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood. "Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out."
Huckabee said on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night that Clemmons was allowed back on the street because prosecutors failed to file paperwork in time.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons' parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee's comments were "red herrings."
"My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did," Jegley said.
Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse.
But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.
Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, 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 Pierce County sheriff's report said.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34194122/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)
God bless them!
