Officers shoot 'cop-killer' dead in Seattle
Maurice Clemmons was fatally shot after he challenged officers.
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Tuesday, 01, Dec 2009 04:30
By Alex Steger.
Police have shot dead the man charged with killing four police officers in Seattle.
Maurice Clemmons was fatally shot after he challenged officers.
Clemmons had been on the run for two days when he was cornered by a house in the Rainier Valley of Seattle at around 02:40 local time (10:40 GMT) today.
He was taken to hospital but later confirmed as dead.
Police now suspect that Clemmons was aided in his escape from capture by his close friends and family.
One of his sisters was arrested as police suspect her of bandaging the stomach wound he received during Sunday's shoot out and of driving him to Seattle.
Ed Troyer, spokesman for the Pierce County sheriff's office, said: "It's unfortunate he's been a step or two ahead of us."
Yesterday it was revealed that Clemmons, who had a string of convictions for armed robbery and mental health problems, had been released early by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
He was freed after serving 11 years of a 95-year sentence.
Police had previously laid siege to house were they believed Clemmons to be although upon entry he was not in the property. It is unclear if he ever was.
As governor of Arkansas Mr Huckabee had a hand in pardoning and commuting more prison sentences than his three predecessors.
Under his ten-and-a-half-year governorship 1,033 people were pardoned or had their sentences reduced, including Clemmons who became eligible for parole in 2000.
It is more than double the numbers granted by the previous three governors over their combined 17 and a half years.
Yesterday Mr Huckabee said he took responsibility for making Clemmons eligible for parole.
He told Fox News: "If I could have known nine years ago that this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would have never granted a commutation. It's sickening."
Mr Huckabee's record of clemency was criticised when he contested the Republican nomination in 2008, which John McCain went on to win.
It is thought that any future run at the White House could be severely damaged by this incident.
Clemmons had been charged with the murder of the four police officers, including one woman, who where gunned down in a coffee shop in Seattle on Sunday morning.
He had been bailed a week previously and had apparently boasted to friends that he was going to kill a cop.
Court papers indicate he was mentally unstable and delusional; having claimed to be Jesus and that he could fly.