The officers killed Sunday were a patrol squad made up of three officers and their sergeant.
A gunman burst into a coffeehouse Sunday and opened fire on fourpolice officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the threemen and one woman in what an official described as a targeted ambush.
Pierce County Sheriff’sspokesman Ed Troyer said officers were looking for one male suspect whofled the scene and haven’t ruled out an accomplice, possibly a getawaydriver.
It wasn’t clear whether the officers even had time to draw their weapons to return fire, Troyer said.
“This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers,” Troyer said.
Troyer said the officers — all from the Lakewood Police Department — were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.
Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.
“There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform,” Troyer said.