On November 29, 2009, four
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s of
Lakewood, Washington
Lakewood is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 63,612 at the 2020 census.
History
Lakewood was officially incorporated on February 28, 1996. Historical names include Tacoma/Lakewood Center and Lakes Distric ...
were fatally shot at the Forza (now Blue Steele
) Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the
Parkland unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
of
Pierce County, Washington
Pierce County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 921,130, up from 795,225 in 2010, making it the second-most populous county in Washington, behind King County, and the 60th-most populous ...
, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in
south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a
Seattle Police Department
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States, except for the campus of the University of Washington, which is under the responsibility of its own police department ...
officer.
Five people, all friends and family of Clemmons, were convicted of crimes associated with aiding his escape and enabling him to elude capture, but most convictions were reversed on appeal, based on court findings of misconduct by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office.
Pattern of attacks on police
Clemmons' shooting of the Lakewood officers was initially thought to be have been part of a targeted attack by multiple persons against police officers in the Seattle-Tacoma area, but these actions are now considered unrelated.
Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was murdered a month earlier under similar circumstances. Three weeks later on December 21 in
Eatonville Eatonville may refer to:
* Eatonville, Florida, United States
* Eatonville, Minnesota, United States, an alternative name for the former Dakota village Ḣeyate Otuŋwe
* Eatonville, Mississippi, United States
* Eatonville, Ontario, a neighbourhood ...
, two Pierce County sheriff's deputies were shot and critically injured (one later died of his wounds). That gunman was shot dead in return fire. The Lakewood shooting is the most deadly attack on law enforcement in the state of Washington.
At the time, the Lakewood shooting was both the second deadliest attack on law enforcement in the United States since the
March 21, 2009, fatal shootings of four
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, police officers, as well as the second deadliest attack on law enforcement in a single incident by a single gunman. The four Lakewood police officers were the first to be killed in the line of duty since the department was established in 2004.
Perpetrator
Maurice Clemmons (February 6, 1972 – December 1, 2009) was identified as the shooter in the November 29, 2009 murder of four police officers in
Parkland, Washington
Parkland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington. The population was 35,803 at the time of the 2010 census and had grown to 38,623 as of the 2020 census. It is an unincorporated suburb of the city of Tacoma and is home t ...
.
After evading police for two days following the shooting, Clemmons was shot and killed by a
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
.
Prior to his involvement in the shooting, Clemmons had five felony convictions in
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
and eight felony charges in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
.
His first incarceration began in 1989, at age 17. Although his sentences totaled 108 years in prison, those for burglary were reduced in 2000 by
Governor of Arkansas
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...
to 47 years, which made him immediately eligible for parole. The Arkansas Parole Board unanimously moved to release him in 2000. Clemmons was subsequently arrested on other charges and was jailed several times. In the months prior to the Parkland shooting, he was in jail on charges of
assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
ing a police officer and
raping
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or a ...
a child. One week prior to the Parkland shooting, he was released from jail after posting a $150,000
bail bond
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
.
At the time, Clemmons' murder of four police officers represented the largest number of law enforcement officers killed by a lone perpetrator in a single incident in U.S. history. It was surpassed in July 2016 when
a mass shooting occurred in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, resulting in the deaths of five police officers.
Early life and juvenile crimes
Maurice Clemmons's father made frames for automobile seats at a
Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
factory;
his mother, Dorothy Mae Clemmons,
worked in a
nursing home
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...
.
He had five siblings.
Clemmons lived in
Marianna, Arkansas
Marianna is a town in and the county seat of Lee County, Arkansas, Lee County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had a population of 4,115, but by 2018 the population had dropped to an estimated 3,477.
Lo ...
in his early youth, and moved to
Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
as a teen. He was arrested when he was a
junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
at
Hall High School for carrying a .25-caliber pistol on school property.
He claimed to be carrying the gun because he was "beaten by dopers", and said he had "something for them" if they attacked him again.
Clemons eventually dropped out of high school his junior year. In 1989, a 17-year-old Clemmons and two other accomplices robbed a woman at midnight in the parking lot of a Little Rock hotel bar. Clemmons pretended to have a gun in his pocket and threatened to shoot her if she did not give him her purse. When she responded, "Well, why don't you just shoot?", he punched her in the head and ran off with the purse, which contained $16 and a credit card. A court sentenced Clemmons to 35 years imprisonment for the crime.
Clemmons was accused multiple times of displaying violent behavior during court appearances. In one incident, he managed to dismantle a metal door stop, hiding it in his sock to use as a weapon. It was discovered and confiscated by a court bailiff. In another incident, he took a lock from his holding cell and threw it at a bailiff, but missed hitting his mother instead.
Clemmons was once accused of reaching for a guard's pistol while being transported to court. During one trial, he was shackled in leg irons and seated next to a uniformed officer because the presiding judge had ordered extra security, claiming Clemmons had threatened him.
At age 16, Clemmons's charges were transferred from
juvenile court
A juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes that are committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal s ...
to adult court due to the extremely violent nature of his crimes and his threatening demeanor.
[ ]
By 1990, Clemmons was sentenced to 108 years in prison for eight felony charges from his teenage years in Arkansas. The total prison term stemmed from multiple sentences, some of which were concurrent to others, while others were consecutive.
The heaviest sentence came in 1990, when he was given a 60-year prison term for breaking into an Arkansas state trooper's home and stealing $6,700 in property, including a gun.
During his sentencing on the charges, a circuit judge told Clemmons that he had broken his mother's heart, to which he responded, "I have broken my own heart."
In 1989, Clemmons was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his 1989 robbery in the parking lot of the Little Rock hotel bar. Among his other sentences were six years for
weapons possession based on his high school arrest
and eight years for burglary, theft and
probation violation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
in Pulaski County. He was ineligible for parole until at least 2015.
Clemmons was initially held at the
Tucker Correctional Facility in
Tucker, Arkansas
Tucker is an Unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, Arkansas. It has an elevation of 226 ft (69 m) and is located southeast of Little Rock. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a po ...
and was eventually transferred to the
Cummins Unit
The Cummins Unit (formerly known as Cummins State Farm) is an Arkansas Department of Corrections prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States, in the Arkansas Delta region. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gou ...
near
Grady.
Clemency
In 1999, after having served 10 years of his sentence, Clemmons filed a
clemency
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
appeal with Arkansas
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...
.
In his petition to Huckabee, Clemmons wrote he came from "a very good
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
family" and was "raised much better than my actions speak".
Clemmons claimed he had just moved from
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington, to Arkansas as a teenager, and because he had no friends he gave in to peer pressure and "fell in with the wrong crowd" to be accepted by his young peers, which led him to commit his crimes.
Although he apologized for his actions, Clemmons also complained that he received overly harsh sentences. He also claimed to have changed and expressed regret that his mother had recently died without seeing him turn his life around. Clemmons' clemency application was supported by Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Marion Humphrey, who argued the cumulative sentence was excessive and cited Clemmons' young age at the time he committed the crimes.
The decision was made over the objections of some victims and prosecutors involved in Clemmons' previous cases but was supported by the bipartisan parole board and the trial court judge in Clemmons' case.
Mark Fraiser, an attorney who prosecuted early cases against Clemmons in Pulaski County, argued Clemmons was extremely likely to commit further acts of violence in the future, and said for a teen to receive such a lengthy prison sentence without committing a murder, "you've got to be a bad little dude".
On May 3, 2000, Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 108-year sentence to 47 years, 5 months and 19 days, which made him eligible for parole that day.
As a factor in his decision, Huckabee cited the unusually long sentence for Clemmons' age at the time the crimes were committed.
The Arkansas Parole Board unanimously approved Clemmons' release on July 13, 2000, and he was set free on August 1, 2000.
Later crimes
Less than a year after his release, in March 2001, Clemmons violated parole by committing
aggravated robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
and theft yet again in
Ouachita County. He was convicted on July 13, 2001 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
He faced charges of parole violation, but, due to problems with the case, he was not served with the charges until 2004. His attorney argued the parole violation charges should be dropped, as much time had passed; subsequently, those charges were dismissed.
Clemmons was granted parole on the robbery charges in 2004. He told the parole board he was "not ready" the first time he was released, but that he "
idn'twant to die in prison" and would "try to do the right thing".
Clemmons moved to Washington in 2004 while still on parole, which was approved by Arkansas authorities.
That year, he married a woman named Nicole Smith; ''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...
'' later reported the relationship had "been tumultuous".
He was placed under the supervision of the
Washington State Department of Corrections
The Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC) is a department of the government of the state of Washington (state), Washington. WADOC is responsible for administering adult corrections programs operated by the State of Washington. This in ...
and classified as "high risk to reoffend". His supervision was to continue until October 2005. He lived in
Tacoma, where he ran a landscaping and power-washing business out of his house.
Over the next five years, Clemmons was able to purchase six houses, including one in Arkansas and five in Washington.
Following his parole in 2004, Clemmons had no arrests or problems with the law until May 2009.
''The Seattle Times'' noted four days in May 2009 as the time when "Maurice Clemmons' behavior and
mental state deteriorated".
On May 9, a Pierce County Sheriff's deputy responded to Clemmons' home after reports he was throwing rocks at houses, cars and people. When the deputy tried to enter the house, one of Clemmons' cousins grabbed his wrist. After a struggle, Clemmons emerged from the house and punched the deputy in the face, then assaulted a second deputy who arrived to help. Clemmons was placed under arrest and taken to Pierce County Jail, where he continued to struggle and told jail workers, "I'll kill all you bitches."
He was charged with two felony assault charges and two felony malicious mischief charges, and released from jail the next day after posting a $40,000 bail bond, without ever seeing a judge.
On May 11, around 1 a.m., Clemmons appeared naked in his living room and ordered two female relatives, ages 11 and 12, to fondle him. The two reportedly complied out of fear, and the 11-year-old fled the house afterward. Clemmons took the 12-year-old into his bedroom along with Clemmons' wife.
Clemmons repeatedly referred to himself as
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, and said his wife was
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
.
He released the 12-year-old after his wife begged him to let her go. However, around 4 a.m. that same morning, he gathered his family back into the living room and demanded they strip naked together. He later left the house, claiming the world was coming to an end and that he was "going to fly to heaven". A family member called 911; police found Clemmons at a nearby second house he was building for himself, but he fled on foot and escaped. Clemmons failed to appear the next day for an arraignment on his May 9 charges.
Child Protective Services investigated and substantiated the
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
complaint.
Clemmons's sister told authorities he had undergone a change and was "not in his right mind".
Clemmons was arrested on July 1, 2009, after he appeared in a Pierce County court trying to have his
bench warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property.
Canada
Arrest warrants are issued by a ju ...
thrown out. He was charged with second-degree rape of a child, and with being a
fugitive from Arkansas.
At the time of his arrest, Clemmons made religiously-themed comments and referred to himself as
The Beast. He also told a police officer that then-
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
and
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...
were his brothers, and
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
was his sister.
Pierce County prosecutors asserted that Clemmons's recent crimes amounted to a violation of Clemmons's parole in Arkansas, and that he faced years in prison if he was returned to that state. However, the
Arkansas Department of Community Correction
The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), formerly the Arkansas Department of Correction, is the state law enforcement agency that oversees inmates and operates state prisons within the U.S. state of Arkansas. DOC consists of two divisions, th ...
notified Pierce County on July 22 that they did not intend to ask for his
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...
and that he should be
adjudicated
Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation, including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants, to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between the pa ...
on his Washington charges. Stephen Penner, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Pierce County, said of the Arkansas decision, "There's a built-in incentive to not following through. In a way, the more violent they are, the less you want them in your community."
During a court-ordered
mental health evaluation, Clemmons told psychologists he had experienced hallucinations in May 2009 of "people drinking blood and people eating babies, and lawless on the streets, like people were
cannibals
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...
".
He claimed the visions had since passed. He also claimed to have no faith in the American justice system, and thought he was being "maliciously persecuted because I'm black and they believe the police".
The evaluation, completed by two psychologists from the
Western State Hospital on October 19, concluded Clemmons was dangerous and presented an increased risk of future criminal acts.
Pierce County Judge John McCarthy set bail for Clemmons's assault charges at $40,000, considerably below the $100,000 prosecutors sought based on Clemmons' history of violence. Pierce County Judge Thomas Felnagle set bail for the child-rape charges at $150,000, lower than the $200,000 sought by prosecutors,
but higher than usual for the charges.
After a mental evaluation, a psychologist concluded Clemmons was competent to stand trial on the charges, which eliminated him as a candidate for involuntary commitment. An attorney for Clemmons notified the court he planned to pursue an
insanity
Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...
or
diminished-capacity defense.
On November 23, 2009, Clemmons paid $15,000 for a $190,000 bail bond to secure his release.
Two other bail bond agencies had earlier rejected Clemmons's bond request, based on his history of failing to appear in court.
Incident
Shooting
On the morning of Sunday, November 29, 2009, the four officers were working on their laptops at a Forza Coffee Company coffee shop, now Blue Steele coffee, prior to the start of their shift in nearby
Parkland, next to
McChord Air Force Base
McChord Field is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the 62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field's primary mission being world ...
. All four were armed and in full uniform, wearing
bulletproof vest
A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. T ...
s.
Clemmons drove a white pickup truck to getaway driver Dorcus Allen's home. Dorcus Allen then drove Clemmons past the coffee shop. After they saw marked police patrol cars in the parking lot, Allen drove Clemmons back past the coffee shop and parked nearby. Allen stayed behind and kept the truck running while Clemmons exited the vehicle and made his way towards the Forza coffee shop.
[ ]
At approximately 8:15 AM (
UTC-8), Maurice Clemmons entered the Forza coffee shop, approached the counter, and turned towards the four seated officers. Without saying a word, Clemmons drew a
Glock 17
Glock is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H., Glock Ges.m.b.H. The ...
9mm handgun and opened fire. Clemmons also carried an illegally obtained
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...
.38-caliber revolver. Clemmons was legally barred from possessing any weapon in WA state due to prior
felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
convictions.
Sergeant Mark Renninger and Officer Tina Griswold were targeted first, they were both shot in the head and killed almost instantly while they still remained seated. In the aftermath, it was revealed that the four officers had hardly any time to react to the violent surprise attack, the shooting was considered an ambush. Officer Ronald Owens was fatally shot in the neck as he stood up attempting to draw his weapon. Clemmons then fired upon officer Greg Richards, striking him in the head. Before officer Richards succumbed to his mortal head wound, he was able to draw his weapon and return fire. Officer Richard's bullet struck Clemmons in the abdomen. A wounded and bleeding Clemmons stole the dying officer Richard's Glock
.40 S&W service weapon.
Clemmons fled the scene, stepping over the slain officers and leaving behind a trail of blood and
DNA evidence. Investigators later utilized the DNA evidence left behind, among other pieces of evidence, including the shop's recorded
video surveillance
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...
footage and eye witness testimony to undoubtedly link
Maurice Clemmons
On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza (now Blue Steele) Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near T ...
to the murders.
Shortly after the shooting, Clemmons was observed exiting the coffee shop, jogging down the block, and entering through the passenger side door of a white pickup truck parked a short distance from the Forza coffee shop. The getaway vehicle quickly sped away from the scene and was presumably driven by Clemmons's accomplice,
Dorcus Allen.
Investigators stated that the murders were an attack against police officers in general, since none of the four officers had ever dealt personally with Clemmons. None of the officers were individually targeted as Clemmons shot at all four officers indiscriminately. Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive as Clemmons stole a single service weapon from one of the four officers, but it was believed he did so as a means to further commit later attacks against other members of
law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
. In the aftermath of the November 29th attack, criminal profilers revealed Clemmons's
modus operandi
A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of op ...
was to simply kill as many police officers as he could and it was believed Clemmons planned and intended to violently target more officers in the days following the initial Lakewood shooting.
Allen later told detectives he stopped at an intersection and abandoned Clemmons and the truck, claiming he "wanted of no part of this". But, police found no evidence Allen had abandoned the vehicle.
Manhunt
The afternoon following the shooting, the Pierce County sheriff identified Maurice Clemmons as the suspected murderer, saying that he had a long, violent, criminal history in
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
and Washington. Police confirmed that Clemmons had been shot in the abdomen during the attack, and advised hospitals to be aware.
In the late evening hours of November 29,
Seattle police believed they had Clemmons surrounded in a home in the
Leschi area of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. With air support provided by King County Sheriff's Office,
SWAT team
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
s from the
King County Sheriff's Office
The King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) is a local police agency in King County, Washington, United States. It is the primary law enforcement agency for all unincorporated areas of King County, as well as 12 cities and two transit agencies which ...
, Seattle Police Department, Tacoma Police Department, and other agencies entered the home after a twelve-hour standoff, but they found no one inside. Earlier in the day, Tacoma police served a
search warrant
A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...
on a Tacoma home belonging to a "person of interest" and collected evidence.
An intense manhunt ensued, and police from agencies in Pierce and
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
counties conducted searches at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
campus,
Rizal Park
Rizal Park ( fil, Liwasang Rizal, es, link=no, Parque Rizal), also known as Luneta Park or simply Luneta, is a historic urban park located in Ermita, Manila. It is considered one of the largest urban parks in the Philippines, covering an area ...
, and in
Renton, without success. Acting on a tip, King County Sheriff's Deputies and
Washington State Patrol
The Washington State Patrol (WSP) is the state patrol agency for the U.S. state of Washington. Organized as the Washington State Highway Patrol in 1921, it was renamed and reconstituted in 1933. The agency is charged with the protection of the Gov ...
troopers were also conducting surveillance and going door to door at
Snoqualmie Pass
Snoqualmie Pass is a mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 (I-90) through the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. The pass summit is at an elevation of , on the county line between Kittitas County and King County.
Snoqualmie Pass ...
-area homes, east of Seattle. After hours of investigating, that search was called off.
The tip had been one of thousands received by local law enforcement agencies. The police were offering a $145,000 reward for information leading to Clemmons's arrest.
Death of Clemmons
Having evaded police for two days, Clemmons was located on December 1. He was shot and killed by a police officer in Seattle.
Around 2:45 a.m. on December 1, Seattle police officer Benjamin L. Kelly was on patrol in the
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
neighborhood of
south Seattle in the
Rainier Valley; he came upon a 1990
Acura Integra Integra may refer to:
* Honda Integra
The , marketed in North America as the Acura Integra, is an automobile produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda from 1985 until 2006, and then since 2021. It succeeded the Quint as a more lux ...
parked on the street at 44th Place South and South Kenyon Street. It was empty but the hood was raised and the engine running.
He ran the vehicle's license plate number and determined that it had been
stolen
Stolen may refer to:
* ''Stolen'' (2009 Australian film), a 2009 Australian film
* ''Stolen'' (2009 American film), a 2009 American film
* ''Stolen: The Baby Kahu Story'' (2010 film), a film based on the real life kidnapping of baby Kahu Durie ...
about two hours earlier.
While sitting in his patrol car to report the stolen vehicle, Kelly noticed a man matching Clemmons' description approaching him from behind,
walking first on the sidewalk and then in the middle of the street.
Police accounts state that Kelly confronted Clemmons and ordered him to stop and show his hands, but Clemmons began to flee around the disabled vehicle and reportedly "reached into his waist area and moved" as Kelly was drawing his sidearm.
Kelly fired three shots at Clemmons, followed by another four shots as the suspect ran away "in a dead sprint,"
and struck him at least twice.
Clemmons reached the sidewalk and collapsed face-down in a walkway leading to a home on Kenyon Street. Kelly retreated behind his patrol car, retrieved his shotgun, and called for backup.
Within moments, Seattle police came to the scene. A team of officers approached the suspect, handcuffed him, and took him away from the home.
Seattle Fire Department
The Seattle Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The department is responsible for an area of , including of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is ...
medics responded and pronounced the suspect dead at the scene.
Clemmons was carrying a handgun identified as having belonged to a slain officer in the Lakewood shooting.
Clemmons had a
bullet wound
A gunshot wound (GSW) is a penetrating injury caused by a projectile (e.g. a bullet) from a gun (typically firearm or air gun). Damages may include bleeding, bone fractures, organ damage, wound infection, loss of the ability to move part of the ...
to his abdomen sustained during the shooting in Parkland, which had been stuffed with cotton and gauze and sealed with duct tape.
Victims
![Pierce County Washington Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Parkland Highlighted](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Pierce_County_Washington_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Parkland_Highlighted.svg)
All four officers had been with the Lakewood Police Department from its beginning in 2004. They were:
*
Sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
Mark Renninger, 39, thirteen years in law enforcement; died from a gunshot wound to the head.
*Officer Ronald Owens, 37, twelve years in law enforcement, from
Puyallup; died from a gunshot wound to the neck.
*Officer Tina Griswold, 40, fourteen years of law enforcement; died from a gunshot wound to the head.
*Officer Greg Richards, 42, eight years of law enforcement experience, from
Graham
Graham and Graeme may refer to:
People
* Graham (given name), an English-language given name
* Graham (surname), an English-language surname
* Graeme (surname), an English-language surname
* Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer
* Clan ...
; died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Memorial funds raised, stolen
Immediately following the shootings, the Lakewood Police Independent Guild set up a memorial fund for the officers. As of 2012, about $3.2 million were donated to the fund. In March 2012, Lakewood police officer Skeeter Timothy Manos pleaded guilty to charges of stealing from the account, using funds for his personal use.
Aftermath
Weapons
Federal authorities determined these details regarding the
9mm Glock Model 17
Glock Ges.m.b.H. (trademarked as GLOCK) is a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, named after its founder, Gaston Glock. While the company is best known for its line of polymer- framed pistols, it also produces field ...
and a
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...
.38-caliber revolver Clemmons brought to the crime scene:
* The Glock was purchased in June 2005 at a
Renton, Washington
Renton is a city in King County, Washington, and an inner-ring suburb of Seattle. Situated southeast of downtown Seattle, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. As of the 2020 census, the ...
pawnshop. The purchaser reported the gun stolen in March 2006, after his car was broken into at a downtown Seattle parking garage at Second Avenue and James Street.
* The Smith & Wesson revolver was shipped in 1981 to the (now-closed) Police Arms and Citizen Supply in
Lakewood, Colorado
The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...
, but no additional details were found.
Trials of accomplices
One accomplice has been convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, while four convicted of rendering criminal assistance, including getaway driver Dorcus Allen, had their convictions reversed on appeal. The trials of accomplices to this crime were marred by prosecutorial misconduct, with many reversals and rebukes from higher courts. By December 2, 2009, six individuals were arrested charged with providing assistance to Clemmons before and after the shooting.
Five were accused of providing such assistance to Clemmons as transporting him to several locations, providing him with money and cell phones, making arrangements for him to flee the state, and treating his gunshot wound from the Lakewood shooting, all with full knowledge of the crime he had committed.
In June 2010, Clemmons's sister was sentenced to five years imprisonment for acting as a getaway driver. In December 2010, three of the four other suspects were convicted. On January 14, 2011, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend sentenced accomplices Eddie Lee Davis to 10 years, five months; Douglas Edward Davis to seven years, six months; and Letrecia Nelson to six years, two months in state prison. One defendant was acquitted of all charges. All of these convictions and sentences were reversed by the
Washington Supreme Court
The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the ...
in appeals of 2013 and 2014 because of prosecutor misconduct in the original trials.
In May 2011, Darcus Allen, the remaining suspect, was convicted of four counts of murder as the getaway driver for Clemmons, and sentenced to 420 years in prison the following month. In January 2015, the Washington Supreme Court overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial, citing prosecutor misconduct similar to the earlier reversals.
After being convicted in the retrial and sentenced, Allen's sentence was reversed on appeal. The high court ruled that Allen was acquitted of aggravated murder at his second trial, and could not be re-tried for aggravated murder. In response, the prosecutor's office re-tried him for first-degree murder. Allen maintains that he did not know Clemmons intended to commit a crime, and believes he has been a scapegoat for the public anguish and outrage evoked by the murders. After the second trial, the jury reported to the judge that they were unable to reach a verdict. The judge declared a mistrial on November 10, 2022.
Political fallout
Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...
was widely criticized for having commuted Clemmons' sentence and allowed his release from prison in 2000.
The evening of the shooting, Huckabee released a statement noting the roles of the parole board that freed him and the criminal justice system, which Huckabee said had repeatedly failed to properly handle Clemmons.
In his statement, Huckabee said, "Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State."
Huckabee, who was considered a favorite for the
Republican Party presidential nomination in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
,
claimed that the situation was used as a political weapon against him.
Clemmons has been compared to
Willie Horton
William R. Horton (born August 12, 1951), commonly referred to as "Willie Horton", is an American convicted felon who became notorious for committing violent crimes while on furlough from prison, where he was serving a life sentence without the ...
,
a convicted felon who was
furlough
A furlough (; from nl, verlof, "leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be s ...
ed from a
prison in 1986 but never returned and committed more violent crimes several months later. The Horton case eventually factored into the
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
presidential campaign of
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
candidate
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
, who was
Governor of Massachusetts
The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces.
Massachusetts ...
at the time and supported the furlough program.
Timothy Egan
Timothy P. Egan (born November 8, 1954) is an American author, journalist and op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times'', writing from a liberal perspective.
Egan has written nine books. His first, ''The Good Rain'', won the Pacific Northwest B ...
, opinion writer for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', said of Huckabee's role in Clemmons's release, "If this case does not sink the presidential aspirations of Huckabee…it should."
In his book about the shooting, ''The Other Side of Mercy,'' Jonathan Martin of ''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...
'' wrote that Huckabee apparently failed to review Clemmons' prison file, which was "thick with acts of violence and absent indications of rehabilitation." Martin also suggested that Huckabee failed to ensure Clemmons' post-release plan was "solid, or even factual." In an article for the ''Times,'' Martin wrote that if Huckabee was serious about running for president in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, "he'll have to answer his Maurice Clemmons problem."
Some university
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
s,
criminologist
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
s, and
attorneys speculated that U.S.
governors
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
will become more reluctant to grant
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
s and clemencies to convicted felons, in order to avoid the negative publicity faced by Dukakis and Huckabee in the Horton and Clemmons cases, respectively.
Officers' memorial service
A public memorial service for the four slain officers was held December 8, 2009, at the
Tacoma Dome. The day began with a procession from
McChord Air Force Base
McChord Field is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the 62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field's primary mission being world ...
past the Lakewood police station to the Tacoma Dome. Over 2,000 police and fire vehicles from over 150 different law enforcement and fire agencies participated in the procession, which took five hours to complete.
Over 20,000 people, mostly from the law enforcement, Emergency Medical Services and firefighting communities, attended the service at the Tacoma Dome.
Police officers from as far away as
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, as well as a large contingent of
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
Officers, NCOs and Constables, along with Officers and Paramedics from the British Columbia Ambulance Service were in attendance.
Lakewood's mayor and police chief spoke, followed by eulogies by family, friends, and colleagues of the four officers. Washington Governor
Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again ...
also spoke, saying, "We will remember them today. We will remember them always." The service concluded with a played recording of a police dispatcher attempting to call each officer with no response, and the dispatcher declaring each officer as "gone but not forgotten." The officers' remains were buried in private ceremonies by their individual families.
The memorial was logistically complex. The agencies preparing for the memorial services expected 20,000 law enforcement personnel to take part. One thousand emergency vehicles and police cruisers followed the families of the victims to the Tacoma Dome.
Remembering the Lakewood Four
/ref>
Site and memorial
The site of the murders reopened two weeks after the shooting. The business later changed ownership and becam
Blue Steele Coffee Company
A memorial to the slain officers appears near the site.
See also
* List of American police officers killed in the line of duty
This is a list of U.S. law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Summaries of the overall casualty figures, by year, are also provided.
Overview by year
According to the FBI, which publishes the data in the Uniform Crime Reports ...
* Murder of Timothy Brenton
The murder of Timothy Brenton occurred on October 31, 2009, in the Central District of Seattle, Washington, United States. Timothy Quinn Brenton (February 9, 1970 – October 31, 2009), an officer with the Seattle Police Department (SPD), was ...
* 2009 shootings of Oakland police officers
Four police officers in Oakland, California, were fatally shot on March 21, 2009, by Lovelle Mixon, a convicted felon wanted on a no-bail warrant for a parole violation. Mixon shot and killed two police officers of the Oakland Police Department d ...
* 2009 shooting of Pittsburgh police officers
On April 4, 2009, a shootout occurred at 1016 Fairfield Street in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, stemming from a mother and her 22-year-old son's argument over a dog urinating in the house. At appro ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakewood Police Officer Shooting
2009 mass shootings in the United States
Mass shootings in the United States
2009 murders in the United States
2009 in Washington (state)
American police officers killed in the line of duty
Assassinated police officers
Attacks in the United States in 2009
Crimes in Washington (state)
Deaths by firearm in Washington (state)
Lakewood, Washington
Law enforcement in Washington (state)
Mass murder in 2009
Murder in Washington (state)
November 2009 crimes
Mass shootings in Washington (state)
November 2009 events in the United States
Anti-police violence in the United States