The main suspect in the murder of four US police officers killed as they sat in a coffee shop near Seattle was shot as he hid in a house today.
Police were unsure if they had killed Maurice Clemmons (37), and were using loudspeakers and explosions to try to communicate with him at the house 50 kilometres from Seattle.
“We have determined that in fact he has been shot,” said a spokesman. “He may be deceased from his gunshot wound.”
It was thought the gunman might have been wounded at the coffee shop by one of his victims.
Police surrounded the house late last night, and a negotiator used a loudspeaker early today to call him out by name, saying: “Mr Clemmons, I’d like to get you out of there safely. I can tell you this, we are not going away.”
Clemmons (37), who had a lengthy prison sentence commuted nearly a decade ago, became the prime target in the search for the killer of Sargeant Mark Renninger, (39); and Officers Ronald Owens (37); Tina Griswold (40); and Greg Richards (42).
Clemmons is believed to have been in the area at the time of the shooting.
Investigators said they knew of no reason why Clemmons would open fire on the four as they sat working on their laptops early yesterday morning, catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts.
“We’re going to be surprised if there is a motive worth mentioning,” said the spokesman, who described a scene of controlled and deliberate carnage that spared the employees and other customers at the coffee shop in suburban Parkland, south of Seattle. “He was very versed with the weapon. This wasn’t something where the windows were shot up and there bullets sprayed around the place. The bullets hit their targets.”
Police believe two of the officers were killed while sitting in the shop, and a third was shot dead after standing up. The fourth apparently “gave up a good fight.”
“We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door,” the spokesman said.
Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal histories. He also recently was arrested and charged in Washington state for assaulting a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child. Using a bail bondsman, he posted $150,000 and was released from jail last week.
In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after being given a 95-year prison sentence.
Clemmons later violated his parole, was returned to prison and released in 2004.
AP