On November 29, 2009, four American police officers of Lakewood, Washington, were fatally shot at the Forza (now Blue Steele) coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer.

Five people, all friends and family of Clemmons, were convicted of crimes associated with aiding his escape and enabling him to elude capture, but most convictions were reversed on appeal, based on court findings of misconduct by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office.

Pattern of attacks on police

Clemmons' shooting of the Lakewood officers was initially thought to have been part of a targeted attack by multiple persons against police officers in the Seattle-Tacoma area, but these actions are now considered unrelated. Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was murdered a month earlier under similar circumstances. Three weeks later on December 21 in Eatonville, two Pierce County sheriff's deputies were shot and critically injured (one later died of his wounds). That gunman was shot dead in return fire. The Lakewood shooting is the most deadly attack on law enforcement in the state of Washington.

At the time, the Lakewood shooting was both the second deadliest attack on law enforcement in the United States since the March 21, 2009, fatal shootings of four Oakland, California, police officers, as well as the second deadliest attack on law enforcement in a single incident by a single gunman. The four Lakewood police officers were the first to be killed in the line of duty since the department was established in 2004.

Perpetrator

Maurice Clemmons (February 6, 1972 – December 1, 2009) was identified as the shooter in the November 29, 2009, murder of four police officers in Parkland, Washington. After evading police for two days following the shooting, Clemmons was shot and killed by a police officer in Seattle.

Prior to his involvement in the shooting, Clemmons had five felony convictions in Arkansas and eight felony charges in Washington. His first incarceration began in 1989, at age 17. Although his sentences totaled 108 years in prison, those for burglary were reduced in 2000 by Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee to 47 years, which made him immediately eligible for parole. The Arkansas Parole Board unanimously moved to release him in 2000. Clemmons was subsequently arrested on other charges and was jailed several times. In the months prior to the Parkland shooting, he was in jail on charges of assaulting a police officer and raping a child. One week prior to the Parkland shooting, he was released from jail after posting a $150,000 bail bond.

At the time, Clemmons' murder of four police officers represented the largest number of law enforcement officers killed by a lone perpetrator in a single incident in U.S. history. It was surpassed in July 2016 when a mass shooting occurred in Dallas, Texas, resulting in the deaths of five police officers.

Early life and juvenile crimes Maurice Clemmons's father made frames for automobile seats at a Chrysler factory; his mother, Dorothy Mae Clemmons, worked in a nursing home. He had five siblings. Clemmons lived in Marianna, Arkansas in his early youth, and moved to Little Rock as a teen. He was arrested when he was a junior at Hall High School for carrying a .25-caliber pistol on school property. He claimed to be carrying the gun because he was "beaten by dopers", and said he had "something for them" if they attacked him again. Clemons eventually dropped out of high school his junior year. In 1989, a 17-year-old Clemmons and two other accomplices robbed a woman at midnight in the parking lot of a Little Rock hotel bar. Clemmons pretended to have a gun in his pocket and threatened to shoot her if she did not give him her purse. When she responded, "Well, why don't you just shoot?", he punched her in the head and ran off with the purse, which contained $16 and a credit card. A court sentenced Clemmons to 35 years imprisonment for the crime.

Clemmons was accused multiple times of displaying violent behavior during court appearances. In one incident, he managed to dismantle a metal door stop, hiding it in his sock to use as a weapon. It was discovered and confiscated by a court bailiff. In another incident, he took a lock from his holding cell and threw it at a bailiff, but missed, hitting his mother instead. Clemmons was once accused of reaching for a guard's pistol while being transported to court. During one trial, he was shackled in leg irons and seated next to a uniformed officer because the presiding judge had ordered extra security, stating that Clemmons had threatened him. At age 16, Clemmons's charges were transferred from juvenile court to adult court due to the extremely violent nature of his crimes and his threatening demeanor.

By 1990, Clemmons was sentenced to 108 years in prison for eight felony charges from his teenage years in Arkansas. The total prison term stemmed from multiple sentences, some of which were concurrent to others, while others were consecutive. The heaviest sentence came in 1990, when he was given a 60-year prison term for breaking into an Arkansas state trooper's home and stealing $6,700 in property, including a gun.

During his sentencing on the charges, a circuit judge told Clemmons that he had broken his mother's heart, to which he responded, "I have broken my own heart." In 1989, Clemmons was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his 1989 robbery in the parking lot of the Little Rock hotel bar. Among his other sentences were six years for weapons possession based on his high school arrest and eight years for burglary, theft and probation violation in Pulaski County. He was ineligible for parole until at least 2015. Clemmons was initially held at the Tucker Correctional Facility in Tucker, Arkansas and was eventually transferred to the Cummins Unit near Grady.

Clemency

In 1999, after having served 10 years of his sentence, Clemmons filed a clemency appeal with Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

In his petition to Huckabee, Clemmons wrote he came from "a very good Christian family" and was "raised much better than my actions speak". Clemmons claimed he had just moved from Seattle, Washington, to Arkansas as a teenager, and because he had no friends he gave in to peer pressure and "fell in with the wrong crowd" to be accepted by his young peers, which led him to commit his crimes. Although he apologized for his actions, Clemmons also complained that he received overly harsh sentences. He also claimed to have changed and expressed regret that his mother had recently died without seeing him turn his life around. Clemmons' clemency application was supported by Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Marion Humphrey, who argued the cumulative sentence was excessive and cited Clemmons' young age at the time he committed the crimes.

The decision was made over the objections of some victims and prosecutors involved in Clemmons' previous cases but was supported by the bipartisan parole board and the trial court judge in Clemmons' case. Mark Fraiser, an attorney who prosecuted early cases against Clemmons in Pulaski County, argued Clemmons was extremely likely to commit further acts of violence in the future, and said for a teen to receive such a lengthy prison sentence without committing a murder, "you've got to be a bad little dude". On May 3, 2000, Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 108-year sentence to 47 years, 5 months and 19 days, which made him eligible for parole that day. As a factor in his decision, Huckabee cited the unusually long sentence for Clemmons' age at the time the crimes were committed. The Arkansas Parole Board unanimously approved Clemmons' release on July 13, 2000, and he was set free on August 1, 2000.

Later crimes Less than a year after his release, in March 2001, Clemmons violated parole by committing aggravated robbery and theft yet again in Ouachita County. He was convicted on July 13, 2001, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He faced charges of parole violation, but, due to problems with the case, he was not served with the charges until 2004. His attorney argued the parole violation charges should be dropped, as much time had passed; subsequently, those charges were dismissed. Clemmons was granted parole on the robbery charges in 2004. He told the parole board he was "not ready" the first time he was released, but that he "[didn't] want to die in prison" and would "try to do the right thing". Clemmons moved to Washington in 2004 while still on parole, which was approved by Arkansas authorities. That year, he married a woman named Nicole Smith; The Seattle Times later reported the relationship had "been tumultuous". He was placed under the supervision of the Washington State Department of Corrections and classified as "high risk to reoffend". His supervision was to continue until October 2005. He lived in Tacoma, where he ran a landscaping and power-washing business out of his house. Over the next five years, Clemmons was able to purchase six houses, including one in Arkansas and five in Washington.

Following his parole in 2004, Clemmons had no arrests or problems with the law until May 2009. The Seattle Times noted four days in May 2009 as the time when "Maurice Clemmons' behavior and mental state deteriorated". On May 9, a Pierce County Sheriff's deputy responded to Clemmons' home after reports he was throwing rocks at houses, cars and people. When the deputy tried to enter the house, one of Clemmons' cousins grabbed his wrist. After a struggle, Clemmons emerged from the house and punched the deputy in the face, then assaulted a second deputy who arrived to help. Clemmons was placed under arrest and taken to Pierce County Jail, where he continued to struggle and told jail workers, "I'll kill all you bitches." He was charged with two felony assault charges and two felony malicious mischief charges, and released from jail the next day after posting a $40,000 bail bond, without ever seeing a judge.

On May 11, around 1 a.m., Clemmons appeared naked in his living room and ordered two female relatives, ages 11 and 12, to fondle him. The two reportedly complied out of fear, and the 11-year-old fled the house afterward. Clemmons took the 12-year-old into his bedroom along with Clemmons' wife. Clemmons repeatedly referred to himself as Jesus, and said his wife was Eve. He released the 12-year-old after his wife begged him to let her go. However, around 4 a.m. that same morning, he gathered his family back into the living room and demanded they strip naked together. He later left the house, claiming the world was coming to an end and that he was "going to fly to heaven". A family member called 911; police found Clemmons at a nearby second house he was building for himself, but he fled on foot and escaped. Clemmons failed to appear the next day for an arraignment on his May 9 charges. Child Protective Services investigated and substantiated the sexual abuse complaint. Clemmons' sister told authorities he had undergone a change and was "not in his right mind".