Rookie kept cool amid horrific trauma, veteran cops say

Every police recruit learns how to handcuff a suspect, handle a service weapon and confront a bank robber.

But there is no training scenario to prepare an officer for the ambush Britt Sweeney encountered Saturday night.

The officer trainee was parked on a quiet, residential street in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood when a car rolled up alongside her patrol vehicle and blasted bullets through her window, instantly killing Field Training Officer Tim Brenton.

Sweeney, just two months out of basic training, is being widely praised for what she did next, a response that's been likened to that of a veteran cop.

Not only did she immediately radio for help — announcing: "Shots fired, north on Yesler!" — but she also managed to return fire at the fleeing vehicle. Although slightly wounded in the shooting, Sweeney is also a key witness who continues to work with homicide detectives trying to solve the case.

"She faced an officer's worst nightmare just weeks into her police career," Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said Sunday, just hours after the shooting.

Sweeney and Brenton were parked on 29th Avenue, just north of East Yesler Way, critiquing a recent traffic stop just after 10 p.m. Saturday. It was only Sweeney's second night riding with Brenton, 39, after having spent a month in field training in the department's West Precinct, said Sgt. Rich O'Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officers' Guild.

Sweeney, sensing danger as the car approached, managed to hunch over.

Suddenly, "there was an incredible explosion of gunfire in her ear," O'Neill said.

The bullets grazed her back and struck Brenton, who died instantly, police said.

"She said finally the shots stopped, she opened the door and returned fire," O'Neill said. "She had the wherewithal to notify radio, get out of the car and fire numerous rounds, despite the horrific scene that she witnessed right there inside that vehicle."

For an officer with so little experience, "it would've been totally understandable to be overwhelmed by the experience," something that can happen to recruits during mock-scenario training exercises, O'Neill said. "But she didn't curl up in a ball. She focused on the job she had to do. She was able to adapt and respond."

Looking for leads

Though tips continue to pour in and investigators are putting in long days tracking every bit of information, Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel acknowledged at a Tuesday news conference that detectives haven't identified a suspect.

"We don't have any solid leads right now because this happened so quickly," he said.

Though police had arrested a "person of interest" for an unrelated crime early in the investigation, Pugel said that man "is not a strong suspect."

Officers are still looking for a beige, white or possibly silver two-door vehicle and "are still debriefing" Sweeney, he said. Detectives don't know how many people were responsible.

"Whether it's one, two or three suspects, we believe we're going to get them," he said.

Pugel said Sweeney wasn't sure if the rounds she fired struck the gunman's vehicle or hit anyone inside. But there have been no reports from area hospitals, which are required to contact police any time there's a patient with a gunshot wound, Pugel said.

A good student

Sweeney is now working through "the horrific trauma" she experienced, surrounded by supporters, O'Neill said.

"It's nothing but a miracle she's alive," said O'Neill, who visited Sweeney, 33, in the hospital and has spent time with her since the shooting.

Sweeney has held up under intense questioning as detectives plumb her memory for details, said O'Neill, explaining that police and civilian witnesses alike can become useless to investigators once "they hit sensory overload" and normal human emotions take over.

Of course, Sweeney is dealing with all kinds of emotion, O'Neill said.

"Everything she's feeling is normal. Not being able to eat, not being able to sleep," he said. But what makes Sweeney's response so impressive is that she was able to quickly "go into police mode and go on instinct," something that can take officers years to learn, O'Neill said.

Capt. Rex Caldwell, the commander of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission in Burien, handed Sweeney her diploma when she graduated from the commission's basic law-enforcement academy on Aug. 19, one of 23 recruits who made up Class 646.

"Britt Sweeney was a very good student who stood out among her classmates," Caldwell said.

During her 5 ½ months at the academy, Sweeney — a former personal trainer — was often in the gym by 5:30 a.m., either working out or helping her fellow recruits with their physical training, Caldwell said. Each academy class is split into four squads, and Sweeney was selected as a squad leader — a position that speaks to her leadership skills, he said.

"Part of our job is to deal with crisis. This is beyond crisis," Caldwell said of Saturday's shooting. "This was a very difficult situation, an extremely unusual situation, and we here at the academy are proud to have had some hand in training her and helping her survive it."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com