Free Republic

PARKLAND, Wash. - Four police officers were shot and killed in a Sunday morning ambush at a Parkland-area coffee shop, officials said. Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ed Troyer called the ambush "a targeted attack." Officials at the scene said two gunmen burst into the Forza Coffee Co. outlet at 11401 Steele St. South, shot the four uniformed officers as they were working on their laptop computers, then fled the scene. Other customers were inside the coffee shop at the time of the attack, but none of them were shot or injured. A $10,000 reward is being offered for any...

Multiple police officers have been shot near McChord AFB in Washington state, official says

Police investigators have identified three of the four officers. All are from the local area. The fourth officer they are still trying to identify. Law enforcements from all over the region have responded to the scene. King County Guardian One helicopter is in the area. {{snip}} The suspect fled on foot after the shooting. The suspect is described a black male, 5'8 to 5'9 and in his 20s or 30s. He had scruffy facial hair with a black coat and blue jeans. He used a handgun. There are possibly looking for another person and are searching multiple places, including residences...

Four police officers were shot and killed Sunday morning in what authorities called a targeted ambush at a coffee shop. Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says officers were in a coffee shop near 116th Street and Steele Street on the east side of the Air Force base at about 8:30 a.m. Police are searching for a male suspect and interviewing witnesses. Forza Coffee is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma. Troyer says the officers were preparing for their shift when a suspect or suspects "walked in with a handgun, opened fire multiple times and then fled the scene,"...

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department has reported that four police officers have been shot dead in an ambush at the Forza Coffee coffee shop at 11401 on South Steele Street in Lakewood Sunday morning. Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said investigators are immediately offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect, and that number is expected to grow.

TACOMA PRODUCTION MOVES TO SA TOYOTA PLANT It will mean 1,000 new Toyota jobs. By Jim Forsyth Thursday, August 27, 2009 Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Texas announced Thursday night that Toyota is relocating its Tacoma mid sized pickup truck production form Fremont California to San Antonio, and is expected to make a $100 million investment in the plant on the city's south side, 1200 WOAI news reports. "Here in Texas, the addition of the Tacoma to the Tundra production line will better utilize our plant's capacity and the 21 supplier facilities on our site," TMMTX President Kenji Fukuta said. "This...

A man who tried to kidnap two 5-year-old girls was beaten Saturday night by two bystanders who witnessed the abduction attempts, Tacoma police said Monday. Officers arrested the 45-year-old man on suspicion of trying to kidnap the girls, who had been playing with some other children in the 500 block of South L Street about 7 p.m. Police said the man, apparently intoxicated, was walking on the sidewalk on L Street when he grabbed the first girl. She kicked her way free, and the man tried to grab another 5-year-old girl, police said. She, too, got away. As the man...

(edit) Federal agents raided Johnson's four offices and his home Wednesday and carried off hundreds of boxes, including the charts for the clinic's 6,000 patients. They want to know more about his billing practices and the prescriptions he writes. "I may not appear shocked," Johnson said. "I was shocked then, but for me it's just another in a series of what I view as harassment." A 52-page search warrant unsealed late Friday says patients knew Johnson as "candy man," an easy touch for drug seeking addicts. He rarely examined his patients, according to several former employees and patients. And...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

About 150 people -- those opposed to the Iraq War and those supporting it -- gathered noisily outside a Tacoma Mall office building on Saturday. A group known as World Can't Wait had organized an anti-war protest to mark the coming fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. But long before their protest was scheduled to begin, counter-protesters arrived. The counter-protesters surrounded an office building that houses military recruiting offices, which anti-war protesters had said they planned to "shut down." They shouted "God bless our troops" and waved American flags.

TACOMA, Wash. – Local military families are being advised to avoid the Tacoma Mall March 15 as local groups plan to protest the Iraq War. The group "World Can't Wait" is organizing protests at a recruiting station near the mall to mark the fifth anniversary of the war. But warnings to stay away have been going out to military families for days now - including one from Fort Lewis seeking to prevent a clash between protestors and military families. Maggie Loveless, a spokesperson for the World Can't Wait, says this is going to be a big, non violent protest designed...

I’ve received a warning from a couple of different sources, some military and some retail. (actual warning to follow) It warns people (particularly those with stickers on their car that allow them access to military bases) to avoid the Tacoma Mall on Saturday March 15th from 12:00 to 5:30 PM due to protests. It’s not a worry to me, because I loathe the mall and what it represents, and avoid it like the plague. I believe in lawful protest, and I have myself protested this illegal and amoral occupation of Iraq, the lives being lost, the money being wasted and...

TACOMA — The FBI checked out a report of an atomic bomb in Tacoma and found it had turned into a pumpkin. The Port of Tacoma called the FBI after the deputy director received a phone message Sept. 21 from a port commission candidate, Bill Casper. He said he knew how to make an atomic bomb that could elude security devices. An FBI spokeswoman in Seattle, Robbie Burroughs, says four agents went to Casper's office Sept. 26 to question him. He says he spent an hour with the agents showing them a pumpkin and another squash similar in size to...

A powerful explosion rocked Tacoma Saturday afternoon, sending four injured workers to the hospital, shooting a fireball hundreds of feet into the sky, shutting down highways and banning aircraft for a five-mile radius. The series of events leading to the explosion began as a tanker truck driver was loading propane into one of two stationary tanks at Atlas Castings & Technology. Two smaller explosions occurred, followed by a massive one that blew the truck apart, with the axel flying hundreds of feet in the air before

TACOMA, Wash. - More than an hour after an explosion rocked the Atlast Foundry in Tacoma, Deputy Fire Chief Jolene Davis says firefighters are trying to prevent another propane tank from exploding. Washington State Patrol told KING 5 there was a possiblity of two more explosions at the foundry, located at 3021 South Wilkeson in Tacoma, if they didn't bring the fire under control. At 3 p.m. an explosion was heard miles away, and witnesses reported flames shooting into the sky. Two people have been taken to the hospital with burns, but there are no confirmed fatalities according to Jeff...

"I disgraced myself, and my mother deserves a better son than me.” Terapon Adhahn said those words to a counselor 17 years ago, during treatment for a sex offense he admitted committing. What he said to Tacoma police Thursday is unknown, but information from Adhahn, 42, led investigators to the body of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, missing since July 4. "It is with great regret and sorrow that I am informing our community that we have located the body of Zina Linnik," Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell said Thursday, Ramsdell provided little more information, saying only that Linnik’s body was found...

TACOMA, Wash. - Someone with cruel intentions placed a fake ad on Craig's List, inviting people to take whatever they wanted for free from a Tacoma home. Homeowner Laurie Raye says there's little left now of the house. The outside of the home is trashed, the inside is nearly gutted and covered in graffiti. Raye says she is devastated. "I was attached to this home because it used to be my mom's," says Raye. The homeowner says from the light fixtures to the hot water heater, everything is gone - including the kitchen sink. Raye recently evicted the tenant and...

Anti-war protests cost Tacoma $500,000 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TACOMA -- Tacoma police say last month's 12-day anti-war protests cost the city an unbudgeted $500,000 to provide a large-scale law enforcement presence. The rough estimate covers overtime, regular compensation, equipment and food for hundreds of workers from Tacoma police and other agencies, Assistant Chief Bob Sheehan said. The city plans to ask the Port of Tacoma and the military to cover some of the costs. "That's a tremendous hit on our budget -- a half-million dollars of unexpected expense," said Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, adding that the military would get the...

If anti-war protesters invaded your city and forced your local government to spend an additional unbudgeted $500,000 on increased police presence, to whom would you send the bill? The city of Tacoma, Wash., decided that the U.S. military should cover the expense. According to an AP story on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website: Tacoma police say last month's 12-day anti-war protests cost the city an unbudgeted $500,000 to provide a large-scale law enforcement presence. The rough estimate covers overtime, regular compensation, equipment and food for hundreds of workers from Tacoma police and other agencies. . . . "That's a tremendous hit...

A Seattle man convicted of supplying Taliban fighters with cash and computers returned to federal court Tuesday to face charges that he violated his parole by traveling overseas with a false Mexican passport. James Ujaama denied the multiple federal counts that could land him back in prison for two years. Arrested in Belize one month ago, Ujaama had only four months left on his parole stemming from the 2003 conviction. His attorney, Peter Offenbecher, said he hadn't yet gathered all the information that led to his client's arrest. "I'm investigating the facts to determine the appropriate course of action," he...