Maurice Clemmons, who ended up killing four police officers near Seattle last fall before he himself was killed, told his wife in recorded conversatioins from jail that he would go on a killing spree, saying it will be retribution for a lifetime of abuse at the hands of law enforcement. Their conversations were obtained by the Seattle Times through a records request. In his own words, Clemmons reveals his state of mind two months before he carried out the most deadly attack on law enforcement in state history.
Law enforcement rarely listens to live jail calls, so prosecutor Craig Adams believes there was little authorities could have done to prevent the shootings. “Hindsight is perfect,” Adams said. “He was feeling victimized, rightly or wrongly. He felt framed.” Pierce County, Wa., authorities have held back some recordings as prosecutors work to prove that other family members and friends helped Clemmons hours after his Nov. 29 rampage. In some calls, yet to be released, Clemmons blatantly tells his friends to post bond and, once he’s out, to get him a phone and a gun, Adams said. When he did get out, he told people on Thanksgiving Day that he planned to kill cops, children, and as many people as he could at an intersection.