SPD: Murderer's approach, escape shows detailed planning

Police commanders have remarked several times on how the murder of Officer Brenton seemed to be highly planned. For example, they've reported that witnesses may have seen the suspect vehicle in the area of a previous traffic stop earlier that night.

As we've reported earlier, video is a big part of the current investigation. SPD patrol cars are equipped with on-board video that records continuously, providing hard evidence of everything within its field of vision. But that field isn't 360 degrees. There's only a single camera that looks forward, through the windshield, without visibility of the sides or rear.

The approach of the suspect vehicle also seems to have carefully planned to avoid that camera, as it approached from the rear, opened fire from the side, then backed up and drove away in the direction from which it came. SPD spokesperson Mark Jamieson told me this morning that the events "would lead someone to believe that they were trying to avoid detection."

So far police haven't confirmed whether Officer Brenton's in-car camera picked up anything of interest in the investigation. But today our news-partners at the Seattle Times report that a video from a vehicle responding to the shooting did pick up a vehicle of interest, matching the general description released shortly after the murder. Details from that recording have been released to officers as a safety precaution, with warnings to use "extreme caution" before approaching any vehicle of that description.

But Jamieson stresses to me that they do not have a specific suspect vehicle at this time, only a "vehicle of interest that we are trying to locate."

Other media outlets have reported new details that are purported to be from the bulletin issued to officers. However, to avoid jeopardizing the investigation, here at CDNews we're going to hold back on reporting any rumors that aren't confirmed by SPD commanders or spokespersons.