Monroe honors two for valor in McCord police shooting

MONROE — Monroe police officers received awards Saturday for their roles in a raid that ended with the death of a fugitive, two days after a jury began an inquest into the fatal shooting.

Awards for valor were presented to officers Jason Southard and Tom Osendorf at the Monroe Police Department’s annual awards ceremony.

A King County jury is conducting an inquest into the circumstances of escaped convict Harold McCord Jr.’s death. The inquest continues today.

The inquest jury’s decision is not binding and will not decide the key issue in the case, whether the officers involved in the raid will face criminal charges. That’s up to Snohomish County prosecutors.

McCord, who had escaped the day before the raid from the Pierce County Courthouse and faced life in prison under the state’s three-strikes law, was fatally shot by police on June 24.

Officers have testified that McCord appeared to have a gun in his hand and threatened to shoot police when they entered the Monroe apartment where he was hiding. Police later discovered he did not have a real gun.

The day before, he’d fashioned a realistic-looking gun from cardboard and brandished it in order to escape from Pierce County custody.

"From the testimony I’ve heard (at the inquest), there was a lot of valor shown by the Monroe police officers," said lawyer Mark Bucklin, who is representing the cities of Monroe and Bothell during the fact-finding hearing.

Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer could not be reached for comment. The department did not respond to a request to release the complete list of award winners Wednesday.

It was not known if raid coordinator Monroe Sgt. Eduardo Jany also received an award. Jany led the raid. A Marine reserve officer, he is heading to the Middle East.

McCord’s family, who have criticized the tactics used during the raid and maintained that McCord wanted to surrender, questioned the timing of the awards, family attorney Bradley Marshall said.

"They obviously don’t have someone who fully appreciates the significance of what these officers did on June 24 in relationship to appropriate police procedures, and somehow believe that giving them awards will make everything OK," Marshall said. "The decision to give them these awards makes a statement in and of itself."

The awards "aren’t part of the inquest or what happened," Bucklin countered.

Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser, who did not attend Saturday’s dinner and awards presentation, said the timing wasn’t significant.

The focus, she added, should be on the hard work of all police and firefighters — not on those two awards.

Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or

schiffner@heraldnet.com.

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