Police say officer-murder “person of interest” shot in Tukwila

Unfolding on multiple citywide-media outlets right now – what KING5 calls a “massive response” at a complex in Tukwila where a shooting happened and may be related to some kind of a break in the Officer Tim Brenton murder – less than two hours after his memorial ended. We’ll link some of the various coverage sources here momentarily. 4:19 PM: KING5 says Tukwila police tell them a man shot at that apartment complex “is the suspect” in the murder, and reporter Jim Forman points out that the ambulance into which that man was taken “has not moved.” 4:21 PM: The Seattle Times also reports the man who was shot is believed to be a suspect in the case. KING5 is saying that the suspect was shot possibly while exchanging gunfire with police, and that he is in his 30s. The station also corrected its report about the ambulance – saying the suspect has just arrived at Harborview Medical Center. The Times, meantime, says the suspect is 41. Tukwila Police are telling KING right now (live) that they are questioning other people but they are not describing them as other “suspects” at this point. 4:49 PM: The Times says the suspect is reported to have pulled a gun on police but it may not have fired before they shot him. 4:53 PM: A police spokesperson is live on TV now saying that they want to refer to the man who was shot as “a person of interest,” not necessarily a suspect yet. They confirm a vehicle similar to the one that was sought – Datsun 210 – is there, but they need a warrant to go through it and to look inside the “person of interest’s” apartment. The spokesperson says this all started with a citizen tip. 6:11 PM: The “person of interest” remains at the hospital; seattlepi.com has a neighbor’s description of him. Police are expected to have a media briefing soon. 7:34 PM: No new briefing yet but seattlepi.com quotes sources as identifying the man. We won’t publish the name till we hear it from police — too many chances this early on that information can change — but you can click through to read the seattlepi.com account. 8:48 PM: SPD has released a statement of sorts, but it says very little – read it here.

!!! November 6, 2009 (4:19 pm)

I have heard they found the car in question hiding under a tarp. We shall see what they say.

Scott November 6, 2009 (4:25 pm)

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end!

WesCAddle November 6, 2009 (4:25 pm)

kjt November 6, 2009 (4:35 pm)

Ditto Scott.

Hopefully the healing can begin.

bridge to somewhere November 6, 2009 (5:55 pm)

seattle times has a picture taken from a helicopter of a car under a tarp, and it certainly looks like a datsun 210. this is extremely promising . . .

bl@ster November 6, 2009 (6:08 pm)

What a relief. Looks like they found the piece of s**t.

mitch November 6, 2009 (8:19 pm)

I knew they’d kill him – or somebody. Watch out when cops get maudlin and weird.

Frank Gannon November 6, 2009 (8:50 pm)

I just read a description of the suspect over at Seattle PI.com . IF this person is indeed the shooter, it sounds like from the description of what they know about him, this person was something of a weirdo. How often it seems to come to this. People like Officer Brenton, who have so much to offer the world, are taken from it by people who have nothing to offer. This person was a nobody in every sense of the word, who could only find value in himself by taking out a somebody, thanks to a misplaced sense of entitlement and contrived grievance. Next time we feel p****d at a police officer ‘coz we were going to fast down Admiral, let’s remember the risks they face, and the sacrifice of Officer Brenton. They face the scum so we don’t have to.

Chuck and Sally's Van Man November 6, 2009 (8:54 pm)

Thanks Mitch. Your contributions have been sooooooooo well thought out, sensitive and illuminating today… You have a real knack for making tragic situations, I don’t know, “weird.” Please go away.

Chuck

mitch November 6, 2009 (8:59 pm)

Chuck: a cut of meat, a crude tool, a half-hearted toss, a euphemism for vomit.

JanS November 6, 2009 (9:00 pm)

mitch…save it for another day, OK? First, they shot him, he has not died that I know of. And thy were doing their job, what they needed to do to catch this guy.

Leroniusmonkfish November 6, 2009 (9:14 pm)

I figured it would only be a matter of days before this a-hole was apprehended and also thought he would be shot dead once apprehended. Kinda looks like what I thought would happen has already played out. I have no idea as to the current condition of this suspected POS but would assume he won’t recover?

My lapse in judgment I suppose was that I thought it was “gang” related and some kind of initiation but this just appears to be a disgruntled “ex” employee working for some security company…someone that aspired to be a “real” officer. Who knows, maybe something recently happened to him that would disqualify him from attaining this higher level??? Still NO EXCUSE!!!! There is no excuse for taking others lives as has played out recently around our country.

RIP – Officer Tim Brenton

If this “suspect” is indeed the culprit then it will hopefully provide a little bit of closure…at least some semblance of closure…

Frank Gannon November 6, 2009 (9:22 pm)

I just had a gut feeling this wasn’t the work of gangbangers. They’re crud, but for the most part, they’re not THAT stupid. They know that when a police officer is shot, especially when cops are deliberately stalked and targeted like this, the Police will take the city apart to find the villains, and that’s bad for business. As long as the gangbangers just shoot their own, police will investigate per SOP. But if a non-gangbanger is killed or a police officer goes down, then the gloves come off. Most ‘gangstas’ try to avoid that level of pressure.

Jose November 6, 2009 (10:34 pm)

If this really is the guy, then I’m glad he’s dead.

WSB November 6, 2009 (10:49 pm)

Unless you have an inside source … he has not been publicly reported as dead … fwiw.

charlabob November 7, 2009 (10:22 am)

Why is he a murder “suspect” and not a murder suspect? I’m not sure where the journalistic use of quotation marks fits here.

Difference between person of interest and suspect (explained to me by a New York PD detective: They use “Person of Interest” when they don’t have enough evidence to file a complaint; once a person is actually charged, rules of evidence, “innocent until proved guilty,” and, most importantly, right to counsel kick in. A “person of interest” has the same rights as any citizen, but no more.

WSB November 7, 2009 (10:33 am)

I have two options for emphasis – quote marks or all caps. There is a lot of missing information here and that’s why we are not publishing the name despite other sources including the Seattle Times, with whom we have an informal partnership, going with it. Last night, one involved police agency insisted on person of interest, another said suspect. Seattle Police are continuing to promise a briefing today and I am hopeful they will issue some official information to clarify how this person – who has not been identified or even described by them in ANY context – is being regarded by their investigators. Their only official, on-the-record statement is this one published on SPDBlotter and also sent to media outlets including us via e-mail:
http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2009/11/06/officer-involved-shooting-brenton-inv-continues/
.
TR

suspect November 7, 2009 (11:15 am)

From the beginning I never thought it was the work of ‘gang bangers’. It was clearly the work of a highly intelligent, calculated individual who thought out what he was doing. It looks like as details roll out now that he was very intelligent. Reminds me of the WA DC sniper. Someone who isn’t immediately obvious. After reading the work of the profiler I had an idea it would be someone hiding in plain sight and it was. Either way it is a good thing though doesn’t bring Tim back to his kids. It’s of course still sad all the way around and doesn’t bring a lot of solace. Should have never happened.