Officers Ambushed outside McChord AFB: Forza Coffee Murders Tacoma Washington

Four police officers were killed in what is being called an ambush in Tacoma, Washington, about 40 miles south of Seattle. The location of the shooting is said to be on the east side of McChord Air Force Base. Roads are closed into the area and air space for the scene has been shut down. Police are calling the murders "a targeted attack." Update 11-29-09 3:40 p.m. CDT below. Tipline: 866-977-2362. New video below. The dead officers were wearing bulletproof vests. Officers names have been released, and a suspect named - see below.

Forza Coffee at red marker

The killings happened at The Forza Coffee Shop at 11401 Steele St. South in Tacoma (or Parkland???). What is not clear is a possible connection to McChord Air Force Base. The base is not shut down and is not on alert. MSNBC is reporting that Forza is "near" McChord. FOX News is showing the graphic of Forza (above) just outside the eastern border of McChord.

Forza Coffee Shop

Officials at the scene are saying that two men, described as a white male and a black male, burst into Forza and shot "the four uniformed officers." The suspects got away. There is a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of suspects, according to KOMONews. FOX has given some detail of the black mail as in his 20's, scruffy wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.

This from FOX News:

"It was just a flat out ambush," Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.

Investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery, Troyer said.
There were other customers in the coffee shop but only the four officers were hit, according to q13Fox.com.

"The four of them are known by everybody here," Troyer said. "We haven't got any information as to why this happened."

The names of the downed officers have not been released. Updates as available.

Update 11-29-09 3:40 p.m. CST:

FOX is reporting that the four officers filled were from the Lakewood Police Department - three men and one woman. The attack happened at 8:15 a.m. today. These officer's deaths are the first since the Lakewood department was established in 2004.

q13fox.com is now reporting one suspect, a black male in either his twenties or thirties, standing between 5'7" and 5"10", with scruffy facial hair, wearing a black jacket and blue jeans. He fled northbound on Steele Street S. towards Highway 512. The possibility of additional suspects has not been ruled out. In the video below you'll hear an officer say that the shooter used a handgun.

A clerk at a nearby store said he saw officers bring a police dog into a nearby apartment complex. According to this report, a white pickup truck in a nearby grocery store parking lot has been tagged "as evidence."

The four officers have been identified and release of their names will happen after next of kin are identified. This report says the four officers made up "one patrol unit, including a sergeant," and all four were wearing bulletproof vests.

11-29-09 8:30 p.m. CDT

The names of the murdered officers are:

Sergeant Mark Renninger, 39. He had been in law enforcement for 13 years. He is survived by a wife and three children.

Officer Ronald Owen, 37, with 12 years of law enforcement experience. He is survived by his ex-wife and a daughter.

Officer Tina Griswold, 40, with 14 years of law enforcement experience. She is survived by her husband and two children.

Officer Gregory Richard, 42, with 8 years of law enforcement experience. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Maurice Clemmons is  wanted in Police shootings

Local video of scene of the murders of 4 police officers (video)