This afternoon Assistant Chief Jim Pugel provided an update on the ongoing investigation into the Halloween night murder of Officer Timothy Brenton and the assault of his partner Officer Britt Sweeney.
Here's details on specific parts of the investigation:
Community Support: Pugel reiterated that the department is very moved by the amount of support from the community and other law enforcement agencies in the area and at the state and federal level. "They're also coming through with a lot of information" that is helping to move the investigation forward.
Personnel: Police have made some reorganizations of detectives to help with the analysis of a "massive amount" of data that has been collected so far.
Officer Sweeney: Police are working closely with the surviving officer to ensure her physical safety and to help her in her physical and emotional recovery from the incident.
Connection to Charles Street Arson? Although both crimes were "bold" and crimes against police and police property, they have not made a connection between that or any other incident. But they are looking at all available angles such as that.
Suspects: SPD has talked to "scores of people" who have made threats against law enforcement, but so far don't have enough to make any arrests
Suspect car near the traffic stop: At least one witness says they may have seen a vehicle matching the suspect vehicle description near a traffic stop. Police are working to verify that and see if it was the traffic stop that Officers Brenton and Sweeney were on
Changes in normal police operations: "Officers are nervous ... This is so unusual, only because they weren't engaged in anything at the moment this happened. So this has made officers more concerned for their safety, and quite frankly, has made the community more concerned for their officers." Officers are taking new precautions, such as calling out their locations more frequently as they do their work. SWAT teams are begin redeployed to back up regular patrol officers.
Vehicle description: Police are looking for a damaged vehicle, possibly with bullet holes from Officer Sweeney's return fire. Still sticking with the original vehicle description of a light-colored small import, possibly a Toyota.
A well-planned attack? "This initially seems like a person who planned this, a person who's thought about it."
Type or caliber of weapon: Nothing yet. The medical examiner is being very thorough and will release that once his analysis is done.
Full video of the conference is uploading now, and should be online by 6pm.
