Law and Justice
(2009-11-12)
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King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg announced charges against Christopher Monfort, in Seattle, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009.
Gary Davis photo.
"We've never seen anything like this. In our experience criminal offenders generally try to avoid the police. This case is unique in that Monfort planned to deliberately confront the police and kill as many officers as he could."
Satterberg says Monfort started a "one man war" against Seattle police at a vehicle maintenance facility on October 22nd. He's charged with fire-bombing a mobile precinct and three patrol cars. The prosecutor says notes left at the scene made it clear he intended to be heard from again.
"In these notes Monfort left near the fire, so investigator's would find later, he declared that quote these deaths were the result of his anger over acts of police brutality," Satterberg said.
There were no deaths or injuries in those fire-bombings. But nine days later, Satterberg says Monfort stalked the patrol car in which Officers Brenton and Officer Britt Sweeney sat. Satterberg says Monfort shot to kill, and as he drove away left behind a calling card, of sorts, a bandana. It was similar to evidence left near the fire-bombings.
A witness had seen a car near the site of the shooting that became the lead interest in the case an older model Datsun. Police got the word out about the make and model, and an alert apartment manager in Tukwila called in a tip. One of her tenants owned such a car, and had recently covered it with a tarp, something she found 'weird.' She identified the owner as Monfort. Satterberg says the tip made all the difference to his arrest last Friday.
"What we didn't have on that afternoon was the precise location of this person we were looking for. That was a very important part of solving this case."
Monfort is charged in 5 counts: one of aggravated first degree murder in the death of Officer Brenton; and 3 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Those include the shots fired at Officer Sweeney, who was injured, and shots aimed at a detective who confronted Monfort outside his Tukwila apartment last Friday. The detective wasn't hurt; police say Monfort pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the detective's face, but it didn't fire. Monfort fled and was shot. After multiple surgeries, Monfort is still at Harborview.
On Thursday, Monfort's family issued a statement saying the 41-year old man is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the altercation with police during his arrest. Suzan Monfort, the alleged gunman's mother, says she hasn't been allowed to see her son. Word of his paralyzation, she said, came from the hospital.
Monfort is being represented by attorney Julie Lawry. She told The Seattle Times the Monfort family is heartbroken over recent events. In their statemet, they expressed their sympathies to families of Officer Brenton and Officer Sweeney, Lawry told The Times.
The aggravated first-degree charge means the prosecutor could ask for the death penalty. Satterberg says that may happen.
"We're going to take our time, but certainly there is no greater crime in my view, than the murder of a police officer."
Monfort will be arraigned as soon as he's out of the hospital. After that, Satterberg has thirty days to decide whether or not to ask for the death penalty. Gary Davis, KPLU News, Seattle.
© Copyright 2012, KPLU
