What a horrible year it has been for mass murders of American law enforcement officers. First there was Oakland, California. Then Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Then Okaloosa County, Florida, proving that the danger isn’t limited to big cities. And now, four Lakewood, Washington police officers gunned down by a cowardly assassin as they sat in a public coffee shop doing their paperwork on their laptops.

At this writing, the suspect (oh, excuse me, the “person of interest”) remains at large. He is believed to have been wounded by the one officer who was able to fight back before he collapsed, dying from the injuries inflicted upon him from ambush.

Fingers of blame point everywhere. At then-Governor Mike Huckabee, a politician liked by many who read this, who long ago commuted the suspect’s sentence. At a flawed System that allowed this man to be free on bail after being arrested for the rape of a child and assault on police. And for every pointing finger, there are more unanswered questions.

The quadruple ambush murder comes on a Thanksgiving weekend less than a month after the Halloween ambush murder of a Seattle police officer. Cops everywhere are grieving. Each of the slain Guardians left a widow or widower. Each left children, a total of nine between them. Donations to the widowed and orphaned survivors may be sent to the Lakewood Police Independent Guild Benevolent Fund, PO Box 99579, Lakewood, WA 98499.

There will be an end to this story, very likely involving more gunfire. Oakland SWAT killed the cop-killer there. The Pittsburgh ambusher was wounded, couldn’t bear the pain, and surrendered. The Okaloosa County killer, torn apart by police bullets in a second encounter, put his gun to his head and blew his brains out. I suspect a similar fate awaits the cowardly murderer in this case.

There are questions. There are even lessons. What we seem to be short of is answers.

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