According to scanner reports, the suspect in the Lakewood police shootings, Maurice Clemmons, was captured earlier this morning in the 4400 block of South Kenyon Street, and KIRO 7, KIRO 97.3, CBS Radio News, and several other local media outlets have just now reported that he is dead.
The location on South Kenyon is east of Beacon Hill, in the Brighton/Othello neighborhood on the other side of Martin Luther King Way South. On Monday, police swarmed North Beacon Hill on 17th Avenue, and near the Jungle and Jose Rizal Bridge in pursuit of Clemmons.
On Twitter, @rahnerseatimes (Mark Rahner of the Seattle Times) reports that there was a shooting at the South Kenyon location at around 2:39 am, and that “Clemmons (is) said to have challenged police who approached him and was shot.”
Movement was seen inside the house near which Clemmons was captured, and SWAT teams have moved in and a perimeter has been set up around the house.
A sad ending to a terrible story.
I was a little relieved when they said they found his gun, but it sounds like he actually had one of the guns from the slain officers? I wish they would have made that info public sooner.
Thank you for keeping up with this story.
I think what you should be saying is ” A happy ending to a sad story.” What would have been sad is, if he got caught and went to prison and sat in there for years waiting for the death penalty that would never come, while we paid for his food and clothing and the tv that he would get to watch. I think the ending of this story was the most fitting way for it to end.
It was probably the most likely ending as well. After reading more about this guy, I had no doubt this story was going to end with at least one more death, likely his own but quite possibly another officer or citizen. Had the SPD officer who shot him not been on the lookout, he would likely have been the next victim. To me, what is really sad is how this guy’s family and friends seemed to go out of their way to ignore his violent threats before this tragedy and facilitated his escape afterward.
The other thing that came out of this to me was the question of why 3rd watch officers are running around as single officers in the South Precinct, particularly during a period when a known cop killer is loose. Thank goodness that officer was alert, and a good shot.