Official: Four Wash. police officers killed in coffee shop attack

[Nagishkaw 510]

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A gunman burst into a Washington state coffeehouse Sunday and opened fire on four police officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what an official described as a targeted ambush.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said officers were looking for one male suspect who fled on foot, but haven't ruled out an accomplice.

Troyer said the four officers killed — all from the Lakewood Police Department — were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.

Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.

"There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform," Troyer said.

With no known suspects, there was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer. The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalized.

Troyer would not release the names of the victims in Sunday's shooting.

It wasn't clear whether the officers even had time to draw their weapons to return fire, Troyer said.

"This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers," Troyer said.

There were two employees and a few other customers in the shop. All are being interviewed by the Pierce County Sheriff's investigators.

"Some are in shock. They are very upset," Troyer said. "They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened."

The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.

Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was OK and being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was with the families of the police officers.

"I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," he said.

Streets around the coffee shop were blocked off late Sunday morning, and a police helicopter hovered over a large crowd of investigators. TV video showed police taking possession of a pickup parked in a grocery store in Parkland.

Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told the newspaper 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.

He said he saw officers bring a police dog into a nearby apartment complex.

The baristas who were inside the shop are "stunned and shocked, traumatized," Troyer said.

"We hopefully will have answers, but there is nothing more we can tell you," Troyer told KING-TV. "That's as cold-hearted as it is."

Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney. Sweeney was grazed in the neck.

Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a "one-man war" against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested days after the Seattle shooting and remains hospitalized.

Monfort remains hospitalized in stable condition, the hospital said Sunday.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-1...ashington_N.htm

[SuperDuper! 230]

Shocking story, Naq. But we are trying to give Booyah some relaxation time today....

[ready4ONE 5,400]

If only the police officers had been armed, they could have defended themselves from this horrific gun violence...

[slim 1,525]

If only the gunman didn't have access to a gun, this never would've happened. While we're at it, we should probably make shooting people illegal and also shooting cops illegal.

We may even want to consider making coffee illegal.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

If only the police officers had been armed, they could have defended themselves from this horrific gun violence...

as said in another thread, situational awareness plays a key role too. being armed means nothing if one isn't paying attention to what's going on around them.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

If only the police officers had been armed, they could have defended themselves from this horrific gun violence...

as said in another thread, situational awareness plays a key role too. being armed means nothing if one isn't paying attention to what's going on around them.

You don't need to be armed to know what is going on around you, and protect yourself.

[ceriserose 1]

If only the gunman didn't have access to a gun, this never would've happened. While we're at it, we should probably make shooting people illegal and also shooting cops illegal.

We may even want to consider making coffee illegal.

That's one of the few things that would never fly in WA state.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

If only the police officers had been armed, they could have defended themselves from this horrific gun violence...

as said in another thread, situational awareness plays a key role too. being armed means nothing if one isn't paying attention to what's going on around them.

You don't need to be armed to know what is going on around you, and protect yourself.

yet being armed and not paying attention to what's going on around you is a good way to have your gun taken away from you.

now about your earlier remark - soldiers are killed too, yet they are armed.

[slim 1,525]

You don't need to be armed to know what is going on around you, and protect yourself.

You don't need to be, but it sure helps!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

If only the police officers had been armed, they could have defended themselves from this horrific gun violence...

as said in another thread, situational awareness plays a key role too. being armed means nothing if one isn't paying attention to what's going on around them.

You don't need to be armed to know what is going on around you, and protect yourself.

Would you feel safe bringing a knife to a gun fight?

[almaty 19]

If only the gunman didn't have access to a gun, this never would've happened. While we're at it, we should probably make shooting people illegal and also shooting cops illegal.

We may even want to consider making coffee illegal.

That's one of the few things that would never fly in WA state.

:dance: :dance: sister ceCrise, ftw!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

If only the gunman didn't have access to a gun, this never would've happened. While we're at it, we should probably make shooting people illegal and also shooting cops illegal.

We may even want to consider making coffee illegal.

That's one of the few things that would never fly in WA state.

I concur.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

OMG.

[rebeccajo 14]

If only the gunman didn't have access to a gun, this never would've happened. While we're at it, we should probably make shooting people illegal and also shooting cops illegal.

We may even want to consider making coffee illegal.

That's one of the few things that would never fly in WA state.

Chicka! How's You's?

[lostinblue 1,989]

It has the same mo as what is being done in the drug war in mexico.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...r=latin_america

The killing of four local law enforcement chiefs in Mexico yesterday highlights the challenge President Felipe Calderon faces as he tries to stamp out police corruption and bolster his fight against organized crime.

More than 270 Mexican police officers have been killed this year, including the assassinations in Michoacan, Chihuahua, Quintana Roo and the State of Mexico yesterday, newspaper Milenio reported. Most of the violence is tied to drug gangs that are battling for control of lucrative shipping routes to the U.S.