Police execution: Seattle cops search for Clemmons

Seattle police are searching the city for Maurice Clemmons, the man wanted for shooting dead four Washington state police officers in a coffee shop on Sunday morning.

Clemmons, who is believed to have suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen in the shootout yesterday, was thought to have been holed up in a house in the city this morning. But after sealing off the surrounding neighbourhood and sending in a SWAT team, a search of the residence drew a blank.

The prime suspect in Sunday's execution-style shooting, Clemmons was controversially pardoned by failed Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in 2000. Huckabee, the Arkansas governor, paroled him after he had served just 11 years of a 35-year sentence for aggravated robbery; Clemmons subsequently violated the terms of his parole and was returned to jail in July 2001, where he stayed for three more years before being released again.

Clemmons was wanted for questioning by police after a man matching his description walked into the Forza coffee shop in Tacoma, about 40 miles south of Seattle, and shot dead four police officers having breakfast – three men and a woman.

He shot the officers in the head repeatedly with a handgun. Three were killed in cold blood; the fourth managed to follow the killer into the car park and fire off a few shots before dying. The gunman escaped.

The four dead officers have been named as Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards, 42. They were all married with children, and had been writing up casework on their laptops when they were attacked. Witnesses at the diner confirm that the gunman was focused on attacking the police, not firing on anyone else.

Because the coffee shop is close to the McChord Air Force Base, there were initial fears that another serial killing was unfolding, similar to that carried out by Major Nidal Malik Hasan at the Fort Hood army base in Texas. But it was quickly apparent that the attack was confined to the police officers. More than 200 members of different law enforcement agencies manned roadblocks and searched for the killer.

Clemmons was soon declared a 'person of interest' to the investigation. The 37-year-old was only released from custody six days ago on charge of second-degree rape of a child, posting bail of $15,000 to end a stay of several months in jail.

His troubling legal history soon emerged. Clemmons had at least five felony convictions in Arkansas, and the decision by Huckabee to commute his sentence - taken due to his young age - was criticised at the time. In recent years Clemmons has been in trouble with the Washington police, attacking a sheriff's deputy during a confrontation in May.

"This is the day I've been dreading for a long time," Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Pulaski County, Arkansas, told the Seattle Times. Huckabee released a statement saying that the "horrible and tragic event... [was] the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State".