Suspect shot

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I haven’t been online all that much for the last few days, but the news here has been filled with stories of the four murdered police officers in Lakewood (a suburb of Tacoma). Coming hard on the murder of a Seattle police officer on Halloween night, it’s a tough time to be an officer of the peace in the northwest.

The suspect in that Halloween shooting was killed by police while the cop’s funeral was going on. Maurice Clemmons, the troubled Arkansas man who was the leading suspect in the shooting, was also shot and killed by a police officer investigating a stolen car early this morning. Early reports indicate he was carrying a gun taken from one of the officers who were murdered, but I’ll wait to hear if that’s confirmed.

I hope they got the right guy, and I hope the inevitable questions of “How could this have been avoided?” don’t run rampant. I sympathize with Mike Huckabee (for one of the first times ever) for the way “Governor frees convict who goes out to shoot cops” meme has been spreading. I sympathize with the Washington state government officials who only allow a suspect to be held without bail in capital crimes. Both tried to do the right thing, and no one has a crystal ball.

But we still have a chance to do the right thing here. Those four officers left behind 9 kids between them. You can donate to help support those families through the donate button on that page (which should be larger and more visible) or you can mail in a gift. Checks should be made out to the LPIG Benevolent Fund at P.O. Box 99579, Lakewood, WA 98499.