Man sought in police killing in serious condition

SEATTLE — A man shot by police as he was sought in connection with the Halloween killing of a Seattle police officer was in serious condition Saturday following hours of surgery.

The wounded man was in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said. He had “multiple injuries” and was not excepted to leave the ICU on Saturday, she said. He arrived at the hospital Friday in critical condition.

Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Oct. 31 as he sat in a car with rookie Officer Britt Sweeney after a traffic stop. Sweeney was grazed in the neck.

Seattle detectives were pursuing a tip in the case Friday at an apartment complex in the south Seattle suburb of Tukwila, Tukwila police spokesman Mike Murphy said. Television footage showed dozens of cruisers surrounding the building, while some officers examined a car that, though covered by a tarp, resembled the profile of a vehicle seen nearby when the officer was killed.

The man fled when approached by detectives outside the apartment building, but he was quickly boxed in, Murphy said. Three detectives opened fire when the man drew a handgun, he said.

“When he produced a weapon that’s when it became a different situation,” Murphy said.

A citizen had told authorities about the car, Murphy said.

Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz said the person of interest, not yet named by authorities, was 41 and had been shot in the head, according to The Seattle Times.

Seattle police said in a press release no detectives were injured.

The shooting Friday came just as a memorial service for Brenton had finished at Seattle’s KeyArena. Thousands of officers from around the country attended the memorial.

Detectives have said they are looking into a possible connection between Brenton’s killing and the Oct. 22 firebombings of three Seattle police cruisers and a mobile command post at a nearby city garage. Investigators reportedly found a note threatening to kill officers and fliers protesting police brutality at the arson scene.