Cop Killer Killed – Approximately Six Suspects Who Helped Him, To Be Arrested
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Seattle police shot and killed the fugitive suspected of gunning down four officers in a suburban coffee shop, a sheriff’s spokesman said Tuesday.
Maurice Clemmons was shot to death after a “very alert patrol officer” tracked down a stolen vehicle linked to him, Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County sheriff, told Fox News.
Clemmons, 37, is suspected of murdering the four Lakewood police officers at a cafe Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
He was killed in a working-class neighborhood after police found him with the help of information about possible hiding spots, Troyer said.
“Shots were fired,” Troyer told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday. “We’re very happy that the Seattle police officer is OK. … This could have turned out a lot worse.”
Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42, were the victims of Sunday’s shooting spree.
Troyer told Fox police arrested three people overnight on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance. The suspected getaway driver also was caught early Tuesday morning, about 6:30 a.m., he said at a briefing.
More arrests are coming, Troyer vowed.
“We’re also looking at family members who aided and abetted in his escape,” he told reporters. “They did everything they could to hamper our investigation. We expect to have six to seven people in custody by day’s end.”
Bios of the Slain Washington Officers
A gun belonging to one of the fallen Lakewood officers was found with Clemmons after he was killed, Troyer said. He was reaching for it when he was shot Tuesday.
“We know our suspect. He’s not afraid to shoot cops,” Troyer said at the news conference.
Police said they aren’t sure what prompted Clemmons to kill 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.
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“There is no answer, other than that he was angry about being incarcerated,” Troyer said. “There’s never going to be an answer that makes any sense.”
Authorities don’t believe Clemmons knew any of the officers he gunned down, but was just targeting police in general.
“Whoever was in there was going to suffer the wrath of what happened,” Troyer told reporters.
At the scene of Clemmons’ fatal shooting, a couple of dozen police officers milled around, shaking hands and patting each other on the back after one of the largest manhunts in the region’s history.
Clemmons had stayed on the run for nearly two days with help from a network of friends and family who gave him places to stay, medical aid, rides and money, police said. Troyer said authorities believe they were planning to sneak him out of state.
On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated his gunshot wound, but later in the day she wasn’t in custody. Her name wasn’t released.
“We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up,” Troyer said.
Police think people close to Clemmons deliberately misled officers. Troyer said anyone who helped him could face charges.
“We don’t think anybody helped him plan this murder,” he said. “But he’s been bailed out of jail … This family has enabled him. Even after this happened, after he killed all four officers, they continued to save him. … They’re going to pay for it.”
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 shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
Troyer confirmed that Clemmons did have an untreated gunshot wound when he was killed Tuesday.
Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting “that he was going to shoot police and watch the news,” Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune.
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.
“We need to get him into custody and we need to end this,” Troyer said Monday night.
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’ “The O’Reilly Factor” Monday night that Clemmons was allowed back on the street for a second time in 2004 because prosecutors failed to file paperwork in time, but acknowledged his role in commuting Clemmons’ sentence, making him immediately eligible for parole in 2000.
“I’m responsible for that,†Huckabee said of the commutation, which cut Clemmons’ sentence to 47 years. “And it’s not something I’m happy about at this particular moment.â€
Huckabee reviewed roughly 1,200 such cases each year during his tenure as governor, 92 percent of which were denied, he said.
“My heart is broken for four families tonight,†Huckabee said.
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.
Troyer said authorities were “disappointed” by the former governor’s remarks.
“What we take issue with is him blaming us for something we had no control over,” he told reporters.
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.
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