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Suspected Cop Killer Maurice Clemmons Killed by Police After Two-Day Manhunt
Police: Clemmons Had Help Evading Capture After Executing Four Lakewood Police Officers
By NEAL KARLINSKY and SARAH NETTER
Dec. 1, 2009
Police in Seattle have shot and killed the man suspected of executing four Lakewood, Wash., police officers.
ABC News has confirmed that Maurice Clemmons was killed after police followed leads to a city address where he was hiding. Details of the early-morning confrontation weren't immediately available, but police have said gunfire was exchanged.
Seattle police had been watching several homes, with officers assigned to watch each location, authorities said today.
Clemmons, 37, had been the focus of an intense two-day manhunt that included a systematic raid of the homes of his friends and family, who were believed to have been helping him evade capture.
Police said Monday that Clemmons was believed to have been armed while on the run, possibly with several guns. Calling him "dangerous," they said, was an understatement.
Police said today that they believe Clemmons' friends and family had been providing authorities with false leads all along. It was those misleading tips, they said, that led police and SWAT members to surround a Seattle home for 11 hours Sunday night into Monday.
The standoff in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood ended Monday morning when a police robot and SWAT members confirmed that Clemmons had been able to flee the area undetected.
Authorities say Clemmons had no ties to the house he was believed to have been hiding in and that they believe he was dropped off in the neighborhood Sunday evening.
The area was described as hilly and wooded, providing lots of hiding places.
Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer told ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV that the raids Monday were being carried out "to collect evidence against him and against those helping him evade us."
Clemmons suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen in a brief shootout with the Lakewood officers he ultimately killed as they sat in a coffee shop Sunday morning, preparing for their next shift.
A reward for information leading to an arrest had been bumped up Monday from $100,000 to $125,000.
A police source has told ABC News that they recovered the murder weapon Monday. Though more than one gun was recovered, they believe he used only one in the attack, a semi-automatic handgun.
Authorities said the attack on the Lakewood officers was a planned ambush.
"We don't believe he was targeting them in particular," Troyer said. "We just believe he was out to kill some police officers execution style."
Police learned after the attack, Troyer added, that Clemmons had bragged to others the night before the shooting that they should watch the news "because he was going to go kill some cops."
Troyer said people who heard Clemmons' alleged warning called in the tip to police after the shooting.
"They are people they were hanging out with the night before," he said. "They didn't believe him and thought he was crazy."
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http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/lakewood-cop-killer-suspect-maurice-clemmons-killed-police/story?id=9213986