Thousands honor slain Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton

SEATTLE — Timothy Brenton grew up wanting to be a police officer.

Ever since he was old enough to play cops and robbers, Brenton knew he would follow his father into a career in law enforcement, friends said.

The veteran Seattle police officer, 39, of Marysville, was remembered Friday as a man of courage, integrity and humble service.

Brenton was gunned down on Halloween in what Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz called a “savage attack that was as cruel and cowardly as it was calculated.”

Earlier in the day, law enforcement from around the country and Canada gathered for what many called the largest service held for a fallen officer in the Pacific Northwest.

A motorcade of more than 1,000 police and fire vehicles wound its way through Seattle. Flashing red and blue emergency lights stretched like a ribbon from one neighborhood to the next. People stood in quiet reverence as the procession slowly passed.

Nearly 10,000 people filled Key Arena for a service full of somber tradition.

“We will grieve over a life interrupted,” said Clark Kimerer, Seattle's deputy chief.

Hundreds of honor guards marched in unison, their white gloved hands were raised slowly in a final salute.

A Tartan clad bagpipe and drum corps played. There was the call of a bugle, the rat-a-tat-tat of a snare drum and the halting staccato of orders shouted by a commander.

Washington State Patrol honor guards fired a 21-gun salute.

Psalms were read and a ribbon with Brenton's name was added to a flagpole whose heavy honor is to carry the names of all of Seattle's fallen officers.

“I'm just sad and outraged,” Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick said. He joined about 100 Snohomish County deputies and corrections officers and hundreds more police from Snohomish County at Friday's service.

“I feel numb. My heart is hurting for the family,” Lovick said. “We will all learn from the way he lived his life. Officer Brenton's life will make all of us better.”

A Snohomish County deputy has been posted to guard Brenton's family at their Marysville home since last week's shooting.

Brenton was a “great man in all the important ways,” Kimerer said.

He served in U.S. Army and saw combat during the first Gulf War. He was stationed in Germany and witnessed the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

His law enforcement career began in Hoquiam before he took a job in La Conner, the small Skagit County town where his parents now live.

On Friday, flags in La Conner were lowered to half-staff in Brenton's memory.

In Dec. 2000, Brenton joined the Seattle force, where his uncle and father served.

His father is credited with designing Seattle's police badge. Every officer's badge on Friday was covered with a black band in honor of the fallen officer.

“I know he died doing what he loved,” said Gil Kerlikowske, Seattle's former police chief and now the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Brenton was praised by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Putting on a police uniform is an act of courage every day, the governor said. She called Brenton's killing tragic and unjust.

“We must see justice served on his behalf,” she said.

Officers who worked closely with Brenton talked about his sense of humor, his dedication to duty and his great love of family.

“We love you, Tim. We'll all work hard to fill your shoes,” Seattle police officer Evan Ehring said.

The Seattle Police Department will embrace Brenton's wife, Lisa, and his two children, Kayleigh, 11, and Quinn, 8, the interim chief said.

A video showed Brenton enjoying his private life: his wedding, the birth of his kids, opening Christmas presents, building a snowman and quiet moments with his loved ones.

“I would do anything in the world to bring your dad back, and I'm sorry that I can't,” Brenton's sister-in-law Jennifer Crigger said to his children.

Six honor guards carefully folded an American flag before it was presented to Brenton's wife.

Two buglers played taps, and a Seattle police radio dispatcher announced the official end of Brenton's police service.

“Officer Timothy Brenton,” the dispatcher said, “Gone, but not forgotten.”


Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.