Officer Timothy Q. Brenton

Timothy Q. Brenton

Officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed while sitting in his patrol car.

The officer was sitting in the passenger seat of a patrol car with a trainee discussing a just-completed traffic stop near the corner of 29th Avenue and East Yesler Way when a vehicle pulled alongside the patrol car and an occupant opened fire. Officer Brenton was killed instantly. His trainee officer was grazed in the back by one shot. She was able to get out of the patrol car, return fire several times at the fleeing vehicle, and call for additional units.

At the conclusion of Officer Brenton's public memorial service, detectives were following up on a tip, specifically of a vehicle that matched the description of the vehicle seen at the incident, at an apartment in the city of Tukwila. The detectives confronted a person of interest as he stepped outside from his apartment and approached the vehicle. The man pulled a gun and was shot and wounded before being taken into custody.

The 41-year-old suspect was also charged with the firebombing of Seattle police vehicles at a city maintenance facility nine days earlier. On July 23rd, 2015, he was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and arson. He was sentenced to life and died while in jail on Jan. 18, 2017.

Officer Brenton, a U.S. Army veteran who served during the Gulf War, had been with the Seattle Police Department for nine years and was previously with the La Conner Police Department. He is survived by his wife, son, daughter, mother, father, step-mother, brother, and sister. His father and uncle are retired Seattle police officers.