Four Policemen Gunned Down in Ambush; Did Predictable Habits Play a Part in This Shooting?

Four Lakewood, Wash., Police Officers were shot in killed in what police are calling a targeted ambush shooting. The coffee shop, which is a well-known gathering place for the Lakewood police officers, was moderately full when a gunman came in and directed the shots at the four people in uniforms.

The officers were there before the start of their shift using their laptops to catch up on paperwork and to discuss police work at the changing of the shifts. Fox news reports that the coffee shop is between three jurisdictions and it is a custom for the officers to meet there before beginning their shifts. They talk about the people they are on the look out for and share other information of police business, as most police forces do at the change of shifts.

The three men and one woman killed by this shooter represent ten to fifteen percent of the Lakewood Police Department. Over 200 officers from following areas have come into Lakewood to join the remaining officers at searching for the suspect and help in general police officer duties.

Police have named a suspect, Maurice Clemmons, of Tacoma, Washington. This man has a long criminal history and was once granted clemency from a 60 year prison sentence while living in Arkansas. Nine years ago the governor at the time, Mike Huckabee, granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons. His criminal history continued with the latest being spending the last several months in prison before the Lakewood police shooting. Clemmons was out of jail on bond for only about a week at the time of the police shooting. He was waiting trial on charges of second degree rape of a child when using a bail bond company to post the bond.

This ambush was targeted at Lakewood Police Officers in general and not at the specific men and woman who were shoot. This report comes from a spokesman of the Lakewood Police Department.

Police officers in uniform may need to refrain from frequenting places together as a rule of safety, especially at a predictable time and place. It was well known in the area that this was a place that police officers gathered at the same time daily. Although the officers certainly have every right to sit and have coffee with one another while discussing police business, this type of gathering may be unsafe for them.

They were in a prime situation for a crazed shooter to do this. They sat unprotected and marked in uniform in a coffee shop and did this at the same time every day. This gives a criminal or a deranged person with a grudge against the police an easy target to act on.

For the safety purposes any officers gathering off the property of a police station should be in plain clothes. Or at best change your location from day to day. An ambush could happen at anytime to the police, even a call to come to a false crime would bring them all together for a shooter.

Today's shooting had officers at such a disadvantage. For the safety of our men and women who protect and watch over us, please take this situation into consideration before putting yourselves in harms way just by doing a seemingly harmless activity.

Our thoughts are with the Lakewood Police Department and the families of the fallen officers.

References: Fox News Live, The Daily News Online