Seattle Times (RVP news partner):
Asking for the public’s help, Seattle police released a detailed description Thursday of the car they are seeking in Saturday’s fatal shooting of Officer Timothy Brenton and a lengthy psychological profile that might fit the killer.
Police said they are searching for a white or light-beige 1980 to 1983 Datsun 210 coupe that might have rear-window louvers and a defective right taillight. Read more.
Seattle police are looking for a Datsun B210 car similar to this one shown in an online car advertisement. The vehicle may be connected with the shooting of Seattle Police officer Tim Brenton. Photo/SPD
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There can’t be a whole lot of Datsun 210′s left and a coupe at that.
If they have enough on film to know it has louvres on the back window and a defective right tail light why no license plate?
My guess is that if they do have enough tape to show those details, they probably did get a picture of the plate as well (if there was one). Whoever did this probably planned enough ahead to either not have a plate on, or more likely stole some plates for the shooting. I can’t imagine that they would prep for this like they appeared to and just keep the real plates on.
The police are only going to release what they think will help them catch the suspect at this point. And beyond catching the suspect, they need evidence to convict. Preferably a confession and/or someone to rat them out. They aren’t playing around. They probably know a lot more than they are saying. I thought what they released in the Times article was very interesting.
This seems odd to include in the psych profile :
“He knows that there are very good officers, and Officer Tim Brenton was a very good officer who swore a solemn oath to protect our citizenry. We’d like to know why this person chose the Seattle Police Department as the target of his grievance.”
I would have guessed that the perp had a grievance against the police dept as a whole, not really caring about the difference between “good” and “bad” officers.
Seems like part of a eulogy jammed into the psych profile.
Tiffany-
My guess is that is a manipulation of the profile they’ve got. You or I couldn’t understand how this would affect a psycho (hopefully), but they probably have some pretty heavy-hitter FBI profilers figuring out what to say to appeal to the psycho mind.
Good point, Ahow. It hadn’t occurred to me that it could be crafted to help ferret the guy out.
Sounds like they got ‘em in Tukwila…
Yup, they said he took one in the head after pulling a weapon on the officers.
Hopefully he lives long enough to shower with Big Bubba and then have a terrible accident.
I am scared of a police force that shoots “a person interest” in the head upon first contact. They said he opened fire on the police, then that they were unsure, then that he just pulled out a weapon. Really? This is just so messed up to me. There are so many parallels between police mentality and gang mentality it is ridiculous. The news reported that cops were walking around harborview smiling. SMH.
I understand a cops need to shoot if a weapon is really pulled but that does not mean direct shots to the head. He was a “person of interest” and no matter how much evidence there is to link him to the crime he deserves access to justice not retaliation from the police force. What does that say about the police?
As a citizen, I do not feel like I am a part of the police “family”. I do not feel like they are as diligent or outraged when someone in our community or family is “assassinated”. I think the loss of Mr. Brenton’s life was tragic. I think police/community relations for many people are tragic also. And I think we can all count many more tragic deaths that have happened so close to us.
ahow: correct, we have more info than makes it out to the public, for exactly the reasons you point out. You are also correct that portions of the profile made public were designed to manipulate the suspect, the best outcome being that he/she deceides to contact us. This tactic has been used sucessfully in the past.
Not sure if the FBI drew up the profile or we did. I know we’ve got folks in the homicide office who have been to the FBI’s profiling school.
See you on the streets!
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