Four cops offed in WA

Merry Andrew wrote:

Your constant inane prattling about the necessity of going around armed was the point of addressing my post to you.

If you don't like his obsession with guns and constant gun talk, starting a thread calling him out on guns is, you know, counterproductive and all. He'd probably talk about guns.

I sincerely marvel at your stupidity, Andy,
in implying that men who 'd commit 4 murders of armed, uniformed police,
in front of everybody, will obay severe, discriminatory gun control laws.
HOW do u propose to convince quadruple murderers
of police to do that?? Will u explain THAT to me?
Inquiring minds want to know.

I neither said nor meant to imply anything of the sort.
I am on record as being opposed to any more restrictive gun laws.
Even the ones that we have on the books can't be enforced.
That's a straw man you're fighting there, David.

My point was that these were four well-armed, well-trained (we must assume) professional peace officers who became victims in spite of the fact that they were well-armed. Your constant inane prattling about the necessity of going around armed was the point of addressing my post to you. Being armed certainly didn't help in this case, did it?

And if it didn't help save the lives of pros why do you keep insisting
that it is good self-defense for the average civilian with no urban combat training?

i don't think he likes the red print, either dave...

Posted By Patrick O'Callahan on November 29, 2009 at 6:59 pm Share this
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Shock. Sympathy. Anger.

Such words hardly describe the depth of what citizens " and the staff of this newspaper " felt Sunday after hearing that four Lakewood police officers were gunned down in a Parkland coffee shop.

Maybe the shock is a good place to start. In Pierce County, deliberate killings of police officers have been rare. Prior to Sunday, only four had occurred over the last 30 years. In each case, a single officer died. Suddenly, four officers " Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold, Greg Richards and Sgt. Mark Renninger " are dead in a single day.

Four officers, one shooting. There’s no precedent in state history, and only a few precedents in the nation’s history. Officers aren’t told this nearly enough, but the vast majority of citizens cherish them, respect them and deeply appreciate the risks they willingly incur protecting the innocent from the violent and the predatory. The killing of one of these valiant professionals rips a terrible wound in any community. The killing of four leaves us reeling.

It’s not just that they were killed; it’s that they were apparently killed for no other reason than they were officers. When officers are murdered in the line of duty, it is usually because they are trying to arrest a criminal or stop a crime in progress. They are killed in the heat of action, because they are in the way.

This looks like a different kind of killing. The four Lakewood officers had casually gathered, doing paperwork. The killer appears to have deliberately stalked them, singling them out solely because of the shields they wore. No one else at the scene was harmed.

Just a few weeks ago, Seattle Officer Timothy Brenton was singled out and gunned down by a cop-hater. Such killings rank " with the murder of children and a handful of other atrocities " as the most outrageous of crimes.

The surviving loved ones of these officers deserve the sympathy of every citizen. Yes, families understand the perils of these jobs. But spouses, children and parents don’t expect the officers they love to be executed, mob-style, while seated peacefully in a coffee shop. No one " officer or family " signed up for this.

As of this writing, the killer has not been found. Many angered citizens are hoping out loud that police will shoot the suspect rather than arrest him. But it’s safe to assume that the police will " as they do routinely " use the minimum possible force. If possible, they will take the suspect into custody unharmed, read him his legal rights and book him safely into jail. That professionalism, multiplied fourfold, is part of what we lost Sunday. The loss, inexpressible, cannot be made good

hmmm, mebbe it's the phonetics then.

or are you by chance a yankee fan?

By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Before joining the Lakewood Police Department, Tina Griswold earned a reputation as a hard-charging, well-liked officer in Lacey who never let things slide when it came to officer safety.

"When she would make stops, she would use her flashlight the right way and approach cars correctly. When she would go to a disturbance call, she would go by all the appropriate tactics taught at the academy," said Lacey police Cmdr. John Suessman, who knew Griswold during her days on patrol in the city of 39,000 outside Olympia.

"She was one of those officers you never had to remind. She had excellent survival skills and that's why it is so hard for me to believe that someone could ambush her," he said.

One opf the cops should have at least been on alert of this was such a bad crime area.

I cant believe that there were no signals or events leading up to this.

Quote:

By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Before joining the Lakewood Police Department, Tina Griswold earned a reputation as a hard-charging, well-liked officer in Lacey who never let things slide when it came to officer safety.

"When she would make stops, she would use her flashlight the right way and approach cars correctly. When she would go to a disturbance call, she would go by all the appropriate tactics taught at the academy," said Lacey police Cmdr. John Suessman, who knew Griswold during her days on patrol in the city of 39,000 outside Olympia.

"She was one of those officers you never had to remind. She had excellent survival skills and that's why it is so hard for me to believe that someone could ambush her," he said.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412738_griswold30.html

Anyone can be ambushed, unless they want to do like Hickock in his later years;
put your back to the wall, and walk down the sidewalk sideways with gun in hand.

This is really sad. It obvious this was a targeted shooting. Until they are caught, I fear more could come. I'm just hoping that some sort of forensic evidence was left behind that will help catch these killers and quick.

To the musings on the police being armed (Merry v David), I think the common sense point here is that people with a plan will be successful. These officers were gunned down in a vulnerable moment. That moment was chosen for a reason. We don't get to choose when we are attacked. We don't get a warning from the criminal about when to be ready.

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