Monday, November 30, 2009

Four police officers shot dead in Washington

SEATTLE, Washington: Four police officers were shot dead in a targeted ambush near a US air force base in Washington state, law enforcement sources said on Sunday.

Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ed Troyer said the officers were sitting in a coffee shop before their shift started when at least one gunman entered and started shooting at around 8:15 am (1615 GMT) local time.

"We have somebody out there who blatantly went in and opened fire on four police officers, killing all four of them," Troyer said following the shooting near McChord Air Force base in Tacoma, around 35 miles south of Seattle.

Troyer did not disclose any information about the identities of the victims, saying only that the officers had worked in law enforcement in Washington state for their entire careers.

Local media later reported that the victims - three men and one woman - were in full uniform, including bulletproof vests, when they were shot.

Troyer said authorities believed the men had been specifically targeted, noting that staff and other customers at the coffee shop at the time of the shooting had not been shot at.

"It was definitely an ambush target situation, there were two baristas and some other customers in there. None of them were hurt or shot at or aimed at," Troyer said. "It was not a robbery. Gunman came in there and opened fire on the four police officers."

Troyer later described the crime scene as "carnage everywhere." "It's like a bad horror movie, it's horrible," he was quoted by the Seattle Times as saying.

Police said they believed only one gunman was responsible for the attack although law enforcement "may also be looking for another person."

The suspected gunman was described as a "black male in his 20s or 30s" Troyer told reporters. "He walked in with a handgun, opened fire multiple times and fled the scene," he said.

The gunman was described as scruffy-looking and fled on foot after the attack.

"We all hope that somebody from the public may have heard or seen something or knows the person who did this," Troyer said.

Troyer said the victims had been going over some paperwork ahead of their shift at the time of the shooting.

"They were getting ready for their shift to start. They had a meeting to go over some paperwork and what they would be working on. That's standard procedure," he said.

Police set up tiplines and offered a 10,000-dollar reward for anyone with information about those responsible for the shooting.

Local media reports said police had been tackling street gangs in the area recently but Troyer appeared to discount a suggestion that the killing could have been part of an initiation test.

"For a gang member to do something like this would be way out of the box," Troyer said.

"Gangs wouldn't be happy about this because it would bring attention to them that they don't want. That's not the direction we're going."

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire voiced his shock at the shootings, which local media said was the worst single loss of life involving law enforcement officers in state history.

"I am shocked and horrified at the murder of four police officers this morning in Pierce County," Gregoire said.

"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." - AFP/de

Source: CNA

Posted by Uber_Soldat @ Gamescore

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