PARKLAND, Wash. -- Four local police officers were killed Sunday morning at a Parkland-area coffee shop, and dozens of investigators backed by search dogs and a helicopter were hunting for their killer.
Witnesses described the killer as a black man, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-9, in his 20s or 30s, with scruffy facial hair and wearing a black coat and blue jeans.
He walked into the Forza coffee shop at 11401 S. Steele Street about 8:30 a.m. and opened fire on the four officers, who were at a table doing pre-shift paperwork.
The man then fled southbound on foot.
The officers – three men and one woman – all worked for the Lakewood Police Department. All were in uniform. Their families have been notified, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.
They are the first Lakewood officers killed in the line of duty since the department was formed in 2004. The slain officers were wearing bulletproof vests.
"This was an execution, no doubt," Troyer said. "This was a targeted attack."
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