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Pierce County Sherriff's spokesman Ed Troyer speaks to the media on Sunday near the scene where four Lakewood Police Officers were killed as they sat in a coffee shop near McChord Air Force Base. |
uniformed police officers were shot and killed in Pierce County Sunday morning in a coffee shop as they worked on their laptop computers, authorities said.
Investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery. A suspect remained at large.
"This was more of an execution. ... As cold-hearted as it is, that's exactly what happened," said Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer. He didn't immediately identify the officers, saying officials were waiting to inform their families, but said all four officers were from the Lakewood Police Department.
Authorities are looking at a person of interest, a police source told seattlepi.com. Police are also said to be at multiple locations of interest -- though police have also been thrown at least one bogus tip, police said -- and were working to obtain search warrants about 1:15 p.m.
The four officers -- three men and one woman -- were about to go to work, Troyer said. Authorities were looking for a suspect: a black man between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-11. He was believed to be in his 20s or 30s and was described as being scruffy in appearance, with a black coat and black jeans.
The coffee shop is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Roads were blocked around the attack site. Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at a store about a block away from the coffee shop, told The News-Tribune of Tacoma that all was quiet when he opened the store at 8 a.m. About 30 minutes later, "All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road," Gabrielson said.
Police established two tip lines and asked people with information to call 253-591-5959 or 866-977-2362.
"We have somebody who has obviously shot four cops we don't know what kind of state of mind he's in and we don't want anyone else hurt," Troyer said, trying to deter people from approaching someone fitting the suspect description. "Let our guys do their jobs; it's still early in this."
On Sunday Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement she was "shocked and horrified at the murder of four police officers this morning in Pierce County. Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe."
No threats made
The fatal ambush came nearly a month after the fatal Halloween ambush of Seattle officer Tim Brenton, 39, who was killed while discussing a traffic stop near 29th Avenue and East Yesler Way. His partner, Britt Sweeney, was wounded when a .223 round tore through her bulletproof vest.
Troyer said there were no threats made
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uniformed police officers were shot and killed in Pierce County Sunday morning in a coffee shop as they worked on their laptop computers, authorities said.
Investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery. A suspect remained at large.
"This was more of an execution. ... As cold-hearted as it is, that's exactly what happened," said Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer. He didn't immediately identify the officers, saying officials were waiting to inform their families, but said all four officers were from the Lakewood Police Department.
Authorities are looking at a person of interest, a police source told seattlepi.com. Police are also said to be at multiple locations of interest -- though police have also been thrown at least one bogus tip, police said -- and were working to obtain search warrants about 1:15 p.m.
The four officers -- three men and one woman -- were about to go to work, Troyer said. Authorities were looking for a suspect: a black man between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-11. He was believed to be in his 20s or 30s and was described as being scruffy in appearance, with a black coat and black jeans.
The coffee shop is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Roads were blocked around the attack site. Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at a store about a block away from the coffee shop, told The News-Tribune of Tacoma that all was quiet when he opened the store at 8 a.m. About 30 minutes later, "All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road," Gabrielson said.
Police established two tip lines and asked people with information to call 253-591-5959 or 866-977-2362.
"We have somebody who has obviously shot four cops we don't know what kind of state of mind he's in and we don't want anyone else hurt," Troyer said, trying to deter people from approaching someone fitting the suspect description. "Let our guys do their jobs; it's still early in this."
On Sunday Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement she was "shocked and horrified at the murder of four police officers this morning in Pierce County. Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe."
No threats made
The fatal ambush came nearly a month after the fatal Halloween ambush of Seattle officer Tim Brenton, 39, who was killed while discussing a traffic stop near 29th Avenue and East Yesler Way. His partner, Britt Sweeney, was wounded when a .223 round tore through her bulletproof vest.
Troyer said there were no threats made
read
...it will be interesting to see how this story unfolds. Meanwhile, no semi-young scruffy black will feel safe?
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