SEATTLE - A veteran Seattle police officer was fatally shot Saturday night as he and a rookie officer sat in their patrol car in the Central District.
The shooting occurred shortly after 10 p.m. at 29th Avenue S. and E. Yesler Way.
Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said the two officers were sitting in a patrol car parked at the intersection. The female rookie officer was sitting in the driver's seat, her trainer, a male officer, was in the passenger seat.
Pugel said a car pulled up alongside the patrol car and someone inside opened fire. The rookie officer was able to duck, but her trainer was hit multiple times.
The rookie officer, who was grazed by a bullet, managed to return fire as the car backed away and fled the scene.
"From everything that we understand, the car literally pulled up alongside the parked patrol car and began shooting," said Pugel. "So it was without warning and it was a deliberate homicide."
Police say they do not have a good description of the suspect or the make of the car, other than to say it may be small, light-colored, possibly gray or silver.
Police are talking to witnesses. Those who were nearby are stunned at the vicious attack on the officers.
"People shooting people who are protecting the community that's not good, you know, that's big time trouble," said one man.
A crime scene investigation team as well as the homicide team and all available officers are collecting evidence and searching for the suspects.
"The officers are very upset, this is highly unusual. This is an attack not only on police officers but on society as a whole," said Pugel.
In August 2006, rookie officer Joselito Barber was killed when a woman drove her sport utility vehicle through a red light and broadsided his patrol car.
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