Suspect In Seattle Officer Slaying Lone Domestic Terrorist

For the past week, we’ve been following the disturbing story of the apparent random killing of Seattle city police officer Tim Brenton. Today, the suspect is in custody after being shot by officers investigating the case, and according to at least one report has been labeled a ‘lone domestic terrorist’ by Seattle Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel.

Here’s the update:

On the afternoon of November 6^th , 2009, Seattle Police Homicide detectives received a tip about a Datsun 210 matching the description of a possible suspect vehicle used in the slaying of Officer Tim Brenton. Detectives responded to a parking lot in the 13700 block of 56^th Avenue South in Tukwila. While detectives were investigating the scene further an adult male suspect emerged and pointed a gun at them. Detectives fired on the suspect in self defense, striking him at least once. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. No detectives were injured.

The Tukwila Police Department is handling the crime scene investigation and the King County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit is conducting the officer-involved shooting investigation.

SPD detectives obtained search warrants to further examine the crime scene. Evidence located inside the suspect’s apartment included improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a rifle, and various other items of evidence.  Detectives now believe that this individual is responsible for both the murder of Officer Brenton,  the attempted murder of Officer Sweeney, and the arson attack on October 22^nd at the Charles Street facility. Detectives are asking the Prosecutor’s Office for formal charges. The Datsun that detectives were looking for is registered to the suspect.  Our investigation into the murder of Officer Tim Brenton and attempted murder of Officer Britt Sweeney continues and we are still receiving and following up on tips.  We have received numerous tips from the public and we encourage everyone to continue to call us with any information they may have regarding this investigation.

From CNN
A suspect in the shooting of a Seattle, Washington, police officer is also believed to be behind the bombing of four police cars, Seattle Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said at a press conference Saturday.

Christopher Monfort, 41, remained hospitalized in serious condition after being shot by officers during a confrontation Friday.

“This man, from everything that we can tell, appears to be a lone domestic terrorist,” Pugel said.

Monfort was in custody at the hospital, but no charges had yet been filed, a Seattle police spokeswoman told CNN. Charges could be filed as early as Monday, she said.

Police named Monfort as a suspect in the Halloween night killing of Officer Tim Brenton, who was shot while sitting in his patrol car. A student officer was injured in the attack.

Investigators also suspect Monfort in the October 22 arson of four police vehicles with homemade explosives, Pugel said.

On Friday, a tipster alerted police to the owner of a Datsun 210 who covered his car shortly after the shooting, Pugel said.

Seattle PI has a Complete Multi-media Recap Of The Entire Story
via Source.

Threat Preceded MaySeattle Police Officer’s Slaying

UPI is reporting that Seattle police found a threatening note nine days before an officer was shot dead in his patrol car last weekend. NTARC will continue to follow this story.

The sources told The Seattle Times the note, which threatened the lives of Seattle officers, was discovered Oct. 22 at a city maintenance yard where four police vehicles had been set on fire, apparently by pipe bombs.

Officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Saturday by an assailant who pulled alongside his patrol car and opened fire.

It was not known if the shooting, which slightly wounded Brenton’s rookie partner, was related to the note, the newspaper said Wednesday. Police officials told the Times this week they had received multiple tips from the public claiming a connection.

Police were looking for a “vehicle of interest” that was photographed by the dashboard camera on Brenton’s car. An officer-safety bulletin issued to the force Tuesday said there was no probable cause to arrest the occupants, but warned officers to use extreme caution if the found the vehicle.

via Threat preceded Seattle officer’s slaying – UPI.com.

Additional Details Available At KIRO TV

Drive-by Shooting Apparently Targeted Seattle Police

A disturbing and saddening first for the city of Seattle. Seattle police say the fatal drive-by shooting of veteran Officer Timothy Brenton on Saturday night represented something the department had not seen before: the apparent targeting of police at random.

“It was incredibly brazen and bold,” said Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel, who called the shooting an “assassination.”

Brenton, 39, a field training officer, and officer-trainee Britt Sweeney were seated in their parked squad car when Sweeney sensed danger over her left shoulder and yelled for her partner to duck.

A car pulled up alongside the officers’ car in the 100 block of 29th Avenue shortly after 10 p.m., and someone inside opened fire.

Bullets grazed Sweeney’s back as she hunkered down. Brenton was struck by several gunshots and died instantly.

Sweeney, 33, grabbed the police radio and called for help, jumped from the car and fired several rounds at the gunman’s sedan as it backed away from the cruiser, turned around and sped down the Leschi street, police said Sunday.

Speaking at a news conference Sunday afternoon, Mayor Greg Nickels called the shooting “a coldblooded killing.”

via Read Full Article.

Seattle – I-5 Shooting Suspects May Have Planned Sniper Attack

Two men arrested Friday night during a bizarre shooting spree along Interstate 5 in North Seattle may have been planning to fire at vehicles driving up and down the freeway, police said Sunday. “One theory is that maybe they were going to snipe at people as they were driving by on I-5,” Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt told KOMO News.

Investigators also found a hidden campsite the suspects had built in a wooded area near North Seattle Community College, Witt said.

Trash and debris litters the remnants of the suspect’s campsite.

She said the positioning of the camp also lends credence to the idea that the suspects planned a sniper attack on the freeway.

But she cautioned that it is just a theory at this point. “We don’t know,” she said. “One good thing is they’re both in custody,” she added.

Both suspects are being held in the King County Jail following the Friday night shooting spree only yards from Interstate 5 near North Seattle Community College.

One of the suspects was found with an AK-47 assault rifle and multiple rounds of ammunition, police said.

The incident closed down all lanes of the freeway for hours, trapping thousands of motorists, but there were no injuries or property damage.

She said officers performed a more thorough search of the brushy, wooded area between I-5 and the college campus on Saturday and discovered more weapons and ammunition stashed there.

Searchers also found the hidden campsite, covered in a camouflage tarp, with a “significant” amount of ammunition.

Read Full Article

Seattle Militant To Testify In High-stakes Terror Trial

Ten years ago, on a dusty ranch in southern Oregon, one-time Seattle hustler and Muslim convert James Ujaama came close to having his head cut off by a Swede named Oussama Kassir.

Kassir, according to court documents, had come to Bly, Ore., on the orders of Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Islamic preacher and purported al-Qaida recruiter in London, to help Ujaama set up a Jihad training camp on U.S. soil.

Ujaama had promised Abu Hamza guns, recruits and terrain remarkably similar to Afghanistan. Kassir, a hardened Jihad fighter who claims he’s killed dozens in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya, was purportedly dispatched from London with another man and $12,000 in startup money.

What Kassir and his comrade found after their 7,000-mile trip were a couple of dilapidated trailers, a motley group of followers — including women and children — and a lot of big talk from Ujaama.

So Kassir, according to documents and eyewitness accounts, decided that he would kill Ujaama and bury him in Bly. Ujaama managed to keep his head.

But Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swedish citizen and engineer who once bragged that he was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, may wish he’d carried out the threat: This week, the 43-year-old Ujaama — now a federal felon — is expected to be the star witness against Kassir in a terrorism-related trial in U.S. District Court in New York.

For the first time, Ujaama will testify about a small group of militant Muslims in Seattle that he led. The group went from commandeering a small mosque in the Central District to becoming entangled in an alleged international terrorism plot.

Read Full Article