20,000 mourn 4 slain officers

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — About 20,000 mourners, mostly members of law enforcement from Washington state and across the country, honored four slain officers who were remembered Tuesday as heroes and loving family members.

A procession of 2,000 cars followed the flag-draped caskets of Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards to the Tacoma Dome, where the memorial service took place. Several candlelight vigils have taken place for the officers since the shooting Nov. 29, but Tuesday’s memorial service and procession are believed to be the largest in state history.

“I would have gone through any door with Mark and I trusted him with any mission,” said Assistant Chief Mike Villa, of the Tukwila Police Department, where Renninger once worked. “I will not forget Mark, the good that he did or the life that he led.”

The Lakewood officers were killed by a lone gunman Nov. 29 before the start of their shift. Authorities say Maurice Clemmons singled them out and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.

Clemmons was shot to death last week by a Seattle police officer after a two-day manhunt. Prosecutors said he received help from family and friends, and seven people have been arrested.

“Our dad was a hero to many even long before he became a policeman,” said Richards’ teenage son, Austin. “The way he lived his life spoke volumes.”

Lori Lightfoot and Sheila Chandler, both police detectives from Fresno, Calif., were among officers who traveled from as far away as New York, Chicago and Canada for the service. They said the deaths of the four Lakewood officers brought back memories of four Oakland police officers killed during a traffic stop and a shootout in March.

“It’s just disbelief,” Lightfoot said. “It’s unbelievable that it could happen again.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire said that the sacrifice would not be forgotten, adding: “We owe the children of these officers, all nine of them, a present and a future that is safe and secure.”

Pamela Battersby, a friend and co-worker of Griswold’s, said Griswold liked dressing up and going out but that she was also a tomboy who rode motorcycles. She met not only the women’s standards on physical fitness tests “but the men’s as well,” Battersby said.

The service included a 25-minute photo slideshow of the officers. It ended with a bell rung 21 times and a presentation of the flags from the officers’ coffins to the families of the fallen.