By Daniel Nash
The Courier-Herald
Personnel from the Bonney Lake and Sumner police departments are assisting the Lakewood Police Department in the aftermath of a shooting that left four officers dead.
Four police officers were killed about 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning when the shooter entered the Forza Coffee house off Steele Street in Parkland and opened fire.
The officers – three males and a female –were pronounced dead on the scene. Each of the officers werw wearing bullet-resistant vests.
Police have identified a person of interest in the case, Maurice Clemmons, 37.
A Seattle SWAT team surrounded a house believed to be harboring Clemmons in the Leschi neighborhood early Monday.
But when officers entered the home, he was not found.
As of Monday morning, they were searching for him near the University of Washington, according to an alert sent out from the campus.
An arrest warrant was issued for Clemmons Monday.
A reward for Clemmons’ arrest has been increased to $125,000 as of Monday afteroon.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said Monday that people who know Clemmons told investigators that he had been shot in the torso.
There is currently no known motive for the shooting.
The officers were working on their laptops catching up on paperwork at the time of the shooting. They were regular customers of the Parkland shop, co-owner Chad Roy said.
Officers from the Bonney Lake and Sumner police departments acted as escorts to the bodies, will provide traffic control at the memorial service and assist the bereaved families.
“We will provide assistance to Lakewood in any form possible,” said Bonney Lake Assistant Chief of Police Dana Powers.
Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy ordered that all flags in Pierce County were lowered to half-staff Monday until further notice in memory of four Lakewood police officers killed.
The deceased officers were Tina Griswold, 40; Ronald Owens, 37; Mark Renninger, 39; and Greg Richards, 42.
All four officers had been with the Lakewood Police Department since its beginning in 2005.
