Police officer in Lakewood shooting started his career with Kent Police force

Kent Police considered Lakewood Police officer Gregory Richards “one of our own.”

Richards, 42, of Graham, was one of four Lakewood officers shot and killed Sunday in a Parkland coffee shop. He started his police career in 2001 in Kent.

The three other Lakewood officers killed in the shooting also were original members of the Lakewood department.

They are Tina Griswold, 40, a former Lacey Police officer; Sgt. Mark Renniger, 39, a former Tukwila Police officer; and Ronald Owens, 37, a former Washington State Patrol trooper.

Richards worked three years as a patrol officer in Kent before he left in 2004 to join the newly formed Lakewood Police Department.

“It’s devastating,” said Lisa Price, spokeswoman for the Kent Police, in an interview Monday at the Kent Police station. “He was one of our own. The whole profession is reeling from the magnitude of this.”

Richards is survived by his wife, Kelly, a daughter and two sons.

“He maintained relationships with many officers here and their families,” Price said.

A Seattle Police officer shot and killed Maurice Clemmons, 37, the suspect wanted in the killing of the four Lakewood Police officers, early Tuesday morning while investigating a stolen car in South Seattle, according to reports by King5.com and the Associated Press.

Price was the officer who ran the background check on Richards before Kent hired him. She said Richards enjoyed his work here, but started to look elsewhere because city officials were planning layoffs in 2004 because of budget cutbacks. Richards decided to take a job in Lakewood.

Lakewood incorporated as a city in 1996 and opted eight years later to form its own police department for the city of 60,000 rather than contracting with Pierce County.

“He took the opportunity for more financial stability for his family,” Price said.

Richards left a lasting impact on Price.

“He was one of those individuals who probably never did anything wrong,” Price said. “He was a really good person. He was dedicated to his family and to his profession.”

Kent Police are on even higher alert while on duty because of the shooting deaths of the four Lakewood officers as well as the shooting death of a Seattle Police officer in October as he sat in his patrol car.

“Officers routinely practice safety,” Price said. “But there is a heightened sense of awareness now.”

Price said, however, it is important for officers to try to keep things in perspective.

“We also recognize the majority of the public appreciates what we do,” she said. “We can’t go out and suspect everybody and develop a negative attitude.”

Price said she and her husband, Kent Police Lt. Ron Price, walked into a Kent Starbucks Sunday after news of the shooting of the officers had been reported. Price was not in uniform, but her husband wore his police uniform before he stepped away for a minute.

“A woman in the shop asked me if I was an officer and I told her I was,” Lisa Price said. “The woman then started to cry and told me, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.'”

Several members of the Kent Police peer support team traveled to Lakewood Sunday and Monday to be there to talk to or listen to officers as they try to deal with the tragedy. Other Kent officers are doing security patrols at a memorial site outside of the Lakewood Police headquarters, providing security at the homes of the families of the slain officers, and riding with officers on patrol. Kent and several other police agencies rotate shifts to aid Lakewood.

“Other peer groups are from Seattle, Tacoma and Pierce County,” Price said. “We are part of a bigger picture.”

Donations to the families of the Lakewood officers may be made through the Lakewood Police Independent Guild (LPIG) Benevolent Fund at PO Box 99579, Lakewood, WA 98499 or visit their Web site at www.lpig.us for more information.