Lit candles, numerous tributes for slain officer

More than 200 people held lighted candles wrapped in aluminum foil and stood in silence Monday night during a makeshift vigil at the site where Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton was slain.

"It's so terribly tragic," said a middle-aged man who placed a half-dozen yellow tulips at a growing memorial to the officer who was killed in a drive-by shooting Saturday night. Another neighbor, who gave his name only as Bill, said he heard the gunshots in a neighborhood not unfamiliar with the sound of gunfire.

"It's difficult," he said. "We all want to do something to show support for our community, the police officer and his family."

Alice Faye Henderson, 60, has lived in the neighborhood nearly all her life, the past 37 years in a house two blocks from the site of the shooting. She said she, too, heard the gunfire that killed Brenton and wounded officer-trainee Britt Sweeney.

"But it was Halloween," she said. "I didn't come outside. If I had come outside, I might not be here today."

Earlier Monday, the City Council paid tribute to Brenton with words of praise and a moment of silence.

"This is a sad time for us," council President Richard Conlin said. "It's a chance for us to honor and remember this officer who has fallen in the line of duty and remember the officer is part of the Seattle Police Department that works every day and takes risks when they do that."

Councilmember Tim Burgess called it a tragic weekend for the city.

He said Brenton spent his nine years on the force working nights on third watch in the East Precinct.

"He was working while most of us were safe in our homes with our families," Burgess said. "This loss is particularly painful because Brenton and his partner were ambushed, shot at point-blank range while sitting in their patrol cars talking about work."

Burgess then cited the commendations that Brenton had received, including one involving a domestic-violence call.

Brenton and a partner responded to a home were a man had tried to strangle a woman. When they arrived, they discovered that the suspect had fled. Brenton and his partner returned to the home several times that night to check on the woman until they saw the man's car and arrested him.

They had to use Spanish-language cards, earning both officers high marks within the department.

"God bless you, Officer Brenton," Burgess said. "We're deeply grateful to your service to the city."