The investigation into Officer Tim Brenton's murder has gone from nothing to a very solid suspect within just 72 hours. In a press conference today, police announced that several key pieces of information lead them to believe that they have the correct suspect in custody, a Tukwila man who CDNews is not naming in the absence of formal charges.
The first damning evidence comes in the form of DNA. In the original Charles St. arson of police vehicles on October 22nd, police extracted DNA from a flag and other evidence that was left at the scene of the arson. A search in DNA databases failed to find any matches. Then a flag-themed handkerchief was recovered from the crime scene where Officer Brenton was murdered, and at noon on Friday, just before Officer Brenton's memorial, a DNA match came back positive between those two items, directly connecting the Charles St. arson to Officer Brenton's murder. Since then, DNA taken from the suspect's apartment has also come up as a positive match with the DNA from the other two crime scenes.
Other evidence comes in the form of ballistics analysis. An assault rifle with a rare barrel was found in the suspect's apartment in Tukwila. It has now been tested and compared to the evidence collected at the scene of Officer Brenton's murder, and a positive match has been made between them, indicating that it is the weapon used in that crime. Police say the weapon was a "hodgepodge" of various parts, and they're working now to trace its history.
And finally, we have the suspect vehicle. A witness told police that they saw a white Toyota drive past Officers Sweeney and Brenton as they made their last traffic stop on MLK at 9:28pm on the night of the murder. It circled around behind the officers, pulled into a secluded area near the park there, point towards them, and turn off its lights. When the officers left, that vehicle left eastbound. Police also found in-car video that showed that vehicle drive past the Brenton/Sweeney patrol car as they sat on 29th Avenue, just five minutes before the murder, and later analysis had the vehicle popping up in other in-car video in the aftermath of the shooting.
Another witness also reported seeing that vehicle parked on 29th Avenue north of the murder scene shortly before the crime, with that witness saying that it appeared as if it was preparing to do a drive-by shooting.
Mid-day on Thursday, a national expert on cars informed police that based on the video evidence, they were looking for a rare '80-'81 Datsun 210, not a Toyota, and police released that description and photos to the public. That proved to be a crucial step, as on Friday a tip came from a Tukwila resident, who reported that a vehicle matching that description had been sitting for some time in her apartment parking lot, was owned by a man who had been acting strangely, and had only recently been put under a cover.
Detectives looked up the vehicle in state records and found that it was registered to the man who is now the suspect in the case. Several detectives also went out to Tukwila to investigate, and a few hours later they made contact with the suspect and shot him after he produced a weapon and tried to shoot at the detectives.
The vehicle is still being examined, but police report that they have found a bullet hole in the car, possibly related to the return-fire of Officer Sweeney on Halloween night. Police are in the process of testing that bullet hole to confirm that it came from a bullet fired by Officer Sweeney.
Police are also examining the many improvised explosive devices and other bomb-making components that were found in the suspect's apartment, and are trying to directly connect them to the type of bombs used in the October 22nd arson at the Charles Street facility.
The timing for charges in the case is not clear at this point. Since the suspect is still in serious condition in the hospital and not in jail, there's no clock ticking that would drive as quickly as in other cases. But we've got a request in to the King County Prosecutor's office to get those details and will let you know when we do.
Full video of the press conference is also coming soon.
