By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
An outrageous statement, if proven to be true, was made by embattled Pierce County Washington Prosecutor Mark Lindquist following the assassination of four Lakewood Police Officers in 2009.
These four officers were murdered while at a local coffee shop in Parkland. Their deaths were marked by great mourning in the law enforcement community and among Washington State’s citizens.
Showing almost sociopathic indifference, Prosecutor Mark Lindquist was quoted by his former Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Mary Robnett (who is now an Assistant Attorney General) as saying he,
“was going to have to run for re-election and would get $100K of free publicity from the murders.”
Of course, publically he was right there to show his great “remorse” for the officers and their families. His statement was confirmed by other witnesses.
A synopsis of the officers’ deaths comes from the Officer Down Memorial Page:
Officer Tina Griswold, Sergeant Mark Renninger, Officer Greg Richards, and Officer Ronald Owens were shot and killed in an ambush style attack while sitting inside a coffee shop in Parkland.
All four officers had just finished a call and went to the coffee shop to complete paperwork. Sergeant Renninger, Officer Owens and Officer Griswald were seated at a table, and Officer Richards was in line waiting to order coffee. The suspect entered the shop, walked directly over to the table where the three officers were sitting, drew a 9 mm handgun and shot Officer Griswald, killing her. The suspect then shot Sergeant Renninger, killing him.
After shooting the two officers, the suspect’s weapon jammed and he became involved in a physical fight with Officer Owens. During the struggle, the suspect drew a second weapon, a .38 caliber revolver and shot and killed Officer Owens. Officer Richards, hearing the shots, moved toward the suspect and became involved in physical fight with him. During the struggle, Officer Richards was able to shoot the suspect once in the torso, before the suspect was able to gain control of his weapon. The suspect then shot Officer Richards, killing him.
These officers suffered a horrible ordeal that ended their lives, and no officer deserves to go through this.
The shocking revelation surfaced as the result of an investigation into a whistleblower complaint launched against Prosecutor Lindquist by members of his staff. The report shows some disturbing allegations of political sleaze, retaliatory actions, sexual favoritism in hiring practices, and botching several high profile cases, one of which garnered a strong rebuke from the Washington Supreme court that ordered a retrial for a murder convict after making sensational and highly prejudicial presentations during closing arguments.
In January we featured an article on the murder case reversal HERE.
Having seen first hand the grief that the community faced after the killings, the walls of flowers left at the street corner where Lakewood PD is situated, and having visited the department during the aftermath of the shooting with a friend who worked there, I can say that Prosecutor Lindquist’s statement of pleasure in seeing political advantage and campaign capital following the deaths of four police officers in his community is a paramount disgrace even for a politician.
In all the years I worked in the profession we have endured politicians both praise or assail LEOs in order to gain political advantage. Most of it at worse is an insult due to the nature of politics and as I have said before, it is somewhat a part of the job. But among the banter I have never heard of a Washington State politician make such an inflammatory statement as Prosecutor Lindquist did here. Even if they believed such an advantage to be true in a twisted sense of self-centered logic, they would have the decorum to not say such a statement to others, at least being decent to the families of the deceased.
If you have seen the death of one of your fellow deputies, and experiencing all that you and your department went through afterward, the thought of witnessing the aftermath of four of your brothers and sisters murdered is something I hope nobody will ever suffer. And it frankly angers me to hear a politician, especially a prosecutor, selfishly revel in our deaths as if he won the lottery. It is as if the killing of four of us meant nothing to him but an opportunity to gain money and political advantage for his own selfish, and ill-gotten benefit.
Mr. Lindquist has other problems, as the complaint so vividly describes, but to me his indifference is especially upsetting as it will certainly be to everyone else who worked in the profession and had coworkers and friends die in the line of duty. But when it comes from someone supposedly on your side of the criminal justice system, it is unconscionable.
Mark Lindquist should drive down to the Law Enforcement Memorial in Olympia and apologize to Officers Griswold, Richards, Owens and Sgt. Renninger and every other officer memorialized on the monument. Then, walk into the Supreme Court’s Temple of Justice and publically announce is resignation. If he had any shred of Honor or humility he would recognize that he has demonstrated his moral unsuitability to be a prosecuting attorney in our state.
I suppose however we will have to be pragmatic and recognize that a person who would utter such an affront would unlikely be willing to go gracefully.
As described in a previous article, Prosecutor Lindquist is facing a recall petition after a judge found cause to go forward, a constitutional requirement for recalling elected officials.
In the end, it might come down to this recall effort. I would venture to say his depraved statement is worth 100k in free publicity–to the recall campaign that is–and deservedly so.
By Darren Smith
Sources:
The News Tribune
Officer Down Memorial Page
Picture Credits: Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, Lakewood Police Department
Recall Mark Lindquist Campaign
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
hello
BFM,
That may be so, but I can’t imagine what the man in the my linked article would’ve wanted with thousands of guns and rifles. Unless he just was a gun hoarder, like some people are pet hoarders or just hoarders in general. But thousands of guns? So many they stopped counting.
” I can’t imagine what the man in the my linked article would’ve wanted with thousands of guns and rifles. ”
I doubt there are many gun shops that hold that much inventory.
I though I read that they were stolen.
At today’s prices 7,000 rifles must be worth several million ($400* 7,000 rifles ~= 2.8 million). Even purchased used that must be more than a million dollars in rifles. If he haunted gun shows and purchased 5 a week it would still take more than 26 years to amass 7,000 rifles.
I think we have to admire his dedication – maybe not his judgement.
https://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/hillary-pore.jpg
I thought that it was time for a little comic relief.
https://jwalshconfidential.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/stop-hillary-04.jpg
So good to see new or old people commenting. It’s no one’s business who they may or may not be. It’s a sad really that it seems to be bothering others somehow.
I don’t know, you seem pretty chipper to me
THall
You don’t think I’m depressed enough?
Ralph- I suggest you read Naomi Klein’s book, “The Shock Doctrine” for an in depth explanation of Israel’s security industry and how it work to derail the peace process in the Middle East.
The book is thoroughly researched and exhaustively fact-checked.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article41313024.html
“Pageland
man arrested after authorities find thousands of guns piled at home
In his 30 years of law enforcement, about the largest illegal stash of weapons Chesterfield County, S.C., Sheriff Jay Brooks ever investigated was 50 guns.
“And that was considered an arsenal,” Brooks said.
Saturday, his deputies arrested 51-year-old Brent Nicholson of Pageland after they found thousands – their best estimate is 7,000 to 10,000 – of handguns and rifles stacked at his house and in a nearby storage building. They found hundreds more at a liquor store Nicholson runs with his father and at his parents’ home, Brooks said.
“There were so many guns we quit counting after a while,” the sheriff said.
********************
I’ll ask again as I did yesterday, why would someone need an such an aresenal? He wasn’t selling these guns, he was hoarding them.
“I’ll ask again as I did yesterday, why would someone need an such an aresenal? He wasn’t selling these guns, he was hoarding them.”
Which arsenal are you talking about, 50 or 7000.
Counting national and armory markings there are probably at least 50 variations of Mausers worth having. When you consider manufactures an interested person could probably come up with nearly that many variations for the M1911 .45 cal auto pistol. And lets not even start with Lugers. I think Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistols were adopted by about 100 nations. Many of those would probably have been manufactured in Belgium. But I will bet the variations on Hi-Poweres are just about endless.
If you get into competition combat shooting you will need at least three types, pistol, rifle and shotgun just to get started. But would any competitor have one without a back up and maybe a practice piece?
Ralph, true enough. It’s too bad that this happens so often.
It is never wise to reveal personal details on this blog. There are some who will use such information for continual abusive personal attacks.
http://people.howstuffworks.com/question345.htm
“If you refuse to give out the information or you deliberately give inaccurate information, you can be in legal trouble. According to United States Code, Title 13 (Census), Chapter 7 (Offenses and Penalties), SubChapter II, if you’re over 18 and refuse to answer all or part of the Census, you can be fined up to $100. If you give false answers, you’re subject to a fine of up to $500. If you offer suggestions or information with the “intent to cause inaccurate enumeration of population,” you are subject to a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in prison, or both. Here’s the official verbiage:
221. Refusal or neglect to answer questions; false answers
(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100.
(b) Whoever, when answering questions described in subsection (a) of this section, and under the conditions or circumstances described in such subsection, willfully gives any answer that is false, shall be fined not more than $500.”
********************
Is it wise admitting one lied or omitted info on the US Census on a public forum? 🤐
“There was a certain woman from Kentucky that used to comment here, and very well, too, but she stopped and requested that every one of her several hundred comments be deleted because a fellow commenter was digging into her personal life. It was a disgraceful and distressing chapter in the history of this blog, and it illustrates the importance of maintaining privacy.”
Respecting and protecting other commenter’s privacy here on RIL could use some improvement.
Wait! Netanyahu is protecting the market of facial recognition software and that is why he is protesting the Iran deal?
Damn. I’m pretty cynical but even I wouldn’t have suggested that one.
BFM
Wiki says ACS survey is mandatory with (small) fines as penalties. Nobody ever prosecuted.
BTW- Facial recognition software comes to us courtesy of the Israeli security state. Some very powerful corporations responsible for developing security tools have an economic stake in ensuring global security situation remains fragile and have been pressuring governments to adopt policies that destabilize regions.
A big reason Netanyahu doesn’t want the Iranian deal to go through.
BFM
Read somewhere ACS is mandatory.
Here is some wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Community_Survey
“Read somewhere ACS is mandatory.”
Thanks for the update. Guess they think I am too much of an to ask me to participate. I might throw the whole country out of kilter.
BFM:
Agreed: There has not been enough discussion concerning the increasing web of surveillance that is being knit around society.
Agreed: The increasing web of surveillance will alter the relationship being citizens and their government.
Contention: I am not aware of any rulings against video monitoring of common areas. I am not aware of any rulings against tracking persons suspected of criminal activity.
I am aware that appeals court decisions have held against GPS tracking, but that’s not the same as video surveillance in common areas.
“I am aware that appeals court decisions have held against GPS tracking, but that’s not the same as video surveillance in common areas”
I agree it is not. But my point was that the nature of the intrusion changes when it becomes technically possible to monitor 100%. The decline in cost making it possible to place cameras everywhere and the ability to monitor in the darkest conditions changes things. That change ought to be discussed.
BFM
Lots more debate is needed on cameras.
But I’m not so sure they are inconsequential. Weren’t the Boston bombers photographed by street cameras? How about the ‘yellow t-shirt bomber’ (IF he is convicted) in Thailand? Weren’t cameras in England important in finding the bombers who attempted to kill Thatcher?. If those memories are accurate, there may be thousands of other crimes where cameras have been useful.
Still, lots of reasons for debate.