UPDATE: 8:45 AM:
As the officer sat in his patrol car doing paperwork on the stolen car, he noticed a man was approaching the driver’s side of the patrol car from behind.
The officer immediately recognized the man as matching the description of Clemmons and got out his patrol car, Pugel said.
“He ordered the person to stop. He ordered the person to show his hands, that person would not show his hands, and also began to run away counterclockwise around the vehicle,” Pugel said.
The officer again told him to stop and he didn’t comply, Pugel said.
The SWAT standoff in Leschi lasted all night but produced no suspect in the ongoing hunt for the man suspected of slaying four police Pierce County officers. Here is the latest from our news partners:
- SeattleCrime: Clemmons was not found on the Leschi property but is believed to have been at the house at some point yesterday. The Seattle search has now widened to include the University of Washington and Beacon Hill areas.
- Central District News: More pictures and updates on activities in Leschi
- Seattle Times: Suspect paroled in Arkansas in 2000.
You can also follow #washooting for updates via Twitter.
Photos: jseattle/Neighborlogs.com
SPD also says it will be “canvassing” the Leschi neighborhood with this information:
Ongoing man hunt for suspect Clemmons
On November 29th at approximately 8:44 p.m. Seattle Police received information that a person of interest in the murder of four Lakewood Police Officers was dropped off near a residence in the 3800 block of East Superior Street. Patrol and SWAT officers immediately responded and began surrounding the area. Seattle Police hostage negotiators and Pierce County Sheriff’s Office investigators also responded to the scene.
As officers began surrounding a residence that the suspect was last seen at, they were summoned by residents in the area to search other structures and dwellings for the presence of the suspect. After containment was established, negotiators continuously attempted to contact the suspect to no avail.
SWAT deployed noise and other attention-getting projectiles at the residence. Chemical irritants were also used in an attempt to persuade the suspect to exit the residence. When these devices also failed to achieve the desired result, officers deployed a robot, utilizing a camera for surveying the immediate area. The robot made entry into the house and detected no persons inside. The SWAT team then made entry and verified that there was nobody inside the residence. We have evidence that the suspect was on scene, but it is unknown if the suspect actually entered the residence.
All officers citywide continue to be on the lookout for the suspect, who remains at large. However, we have no specific indication that the suspect remains in the city limits.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Office investigators along with Seattle Police CSI detectives in a supporting role are continuing the search of the residence and the processing of the scene. We are continuing to conduct house checks and a search of the Leschi neighborhood with the assistance of K-9 units.
The Seattle Police Department continues to offer any and all assistance requested to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the Lakewood Police Department.
For all inquiries regarding this investigation, please contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, who remain the lead agency in this investigation. PCSO has two crime tip lines set up and they are 253-591-5959 or 866-977-2362.
We ask that anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of suspect Clemmons, who is considered armed and extremely dangerous, call 911 immediately.
I am curious about some of the allegations I have been reading about regarding the shootings of police officers this last month. First I want to say that I do not support these shootings and killing people is not the solution. I do not support fanatical behavior by anyone. But here goes….. Is there any truth to allegations or evidence that Officer Brenton was harassing and racially profiling residents of 29th and Yesler? Is there any truth that the execution of the four officers in Lakewood was in retaliation to allegations of racist behavior on their part? Are radical fanatics stirring the pot or is there something else here we need to see and understand? I recognize that asking these questions is potentially inflammatory, but we need to know the truth. Is there a race issue here that needs to be addressed by our community? These shootings are tragedies that our community, friends and families have to deal with and heal from. I think it better to ask these questions and look at them honestly, so these allegations can either be dismissed or addressed. Clearly the shooters in both these events were mentally not well. I am sad for all of us!
The only valid, non-inflammatory point you make is that there is indeed a need for an ongoing dialogue both in this community and elsewhere regarding race (see Obama’s speech from last year). The questions you pose, though, couldn’t be more ill-conceived, ill-informed, and asinine.
Your questions: “Is there any truth to allegations or evidence that Officer Brenton was harassing and racially profiling residents of 29th and Yesler? Is there any truth that the execution of the four officers in Lakewood was in retaliation to allegations of racist behavior on their part?”
Is your point then, that though you “… do not support fanatical behavior by anyone…”, the recent targeted executions of police officers is somehow understandable if only we pose the right questions? Weren’t the accused murderers in fact profiling police officers? Brenton was in the past pulled over for driving around the 29th and Yesler area for quite a a very long time, with no apparent destination in mind. That, sir, is suspicious. Yes, he’s black. And yes, that may have been one of several factors that led to his being pulled over, but he was cruising a neighborhood suspiciously and failed to use a turn signal (he also lacked a license plate on the front of his car). The officer pulled him over, asked if he was lost, and Brenton wasn’t able to provide a current insurance card. You can see/hear the entirety of this traffic stop online from the dashboard camera. The only thing he was cited for was not being able to prove that his insurance was current, a $50 fine if he’s later able to prove he’s insured. The officer gave him a break on the other 2 citable offenses, despite the attitude given him by Brenton.
So then, does it seem to you that Brenton was in this instance harassed? To anyone being intellectually honest with themselves, Brenton was given a break by Johnny Law.
And to your point about “… allegations of racist behavior on their [the 4 Lakewood officers] part… “, are you joking? If you’re being at all serious, you’re seriously a dipshit. All 4 cops were racist, right? And their accused killer followed all 4 for a while (premeditation) and determined that they’d be there, right? Was one perhaps not racist, and the suspect didn’t do his homework, thus there wasn’t a need to kill all 4?
RADICAL FANATICS ARE STIRRING THE POT, AND YOU’RE ONE OF THEM! Soften your phrasing/offer whatever salad course of a prologue you’d like, but eventually your comment serves up a hearty main course of fanatical dipshittery. I pity you.
Egregious error on my part: Brenton was the officer killed, Monfort is the suspect. My apologies to all. Yes there is a need for an ongoing dialogue, but any sane person knew this long before these assassinations. The assassinations aren’t the conversations starter. The suspects do seem, as you state, “mentally not well.” Let’s leave it at that–that these were tragic events committed by the fanatical–an affliction that affects people of all colors.
is the race card an attempt to justify the execution of 5 people? Racial injustice happens every day, and yet somehow despite this, victims of racial profiling don’t go on a murder spree. there is no excuse, justification, or extenuating circumstance that can mitigate the fact that what monfort and clemmons did was absolutely cold-blooded, and can and should be condemned by everyone, regardless of race.