Attack on Lakewood police likely worst in state history

Sunday's fatal shooting of four Lakewood police officers appears to be the worst attack on law-enforcement officers in state history.

Previous deadly attacks on officers in Washington include:

• In 1906, Marshal Michael Glover, Kennewick Police Officer Joseph Holzheyand Deputy Marshal Forest Perry were shot and killed as a posse attempted to arrest several burglary suspects at a hobo camp.

• In 1921, three members of the Seattle Police Department were killed, two slain by a gunman first spotted on Broadway, and the third shot later in the day when he spotted the suspect in downtown Seattle.

• In 1935, two Seattle police officers were killed responding to a burglary just north of the city limits.

• On Easter in 1949, in what became known as the Easter Massacre in Pullman, the Whitman County sheriff, a deputy, and a Pullman police officer were killed by a gunman.

• In 1987, Island County Deputy Sheriff's Deputy William Heffernan and Deputy John Saxerud were shot and killed by a man they had arrested for drunken driving. The man pulled out a gun and shot the deputies as the three men were in the jail's processing area.

Information from historylink.org, The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc., and the Seattle Police Department Web site is included in this report.