SEATTLE — Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of killing four Lakewood, Wash., police officers Sunday in a coffee shop, was shot and perhaps seriously wounded by one of the officers before fleeing, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said this morning.

Clemmons is believed to be in the house police have surrounded in Seattle since late Sunday night.

"He has suffered a gunshot wound," Troyer said at a media briefing held just before 3 a.m.

Police know Clemmons was wounded because they have detained other people — Troyer wouldn't say how many — who helped Clemmons after the shootings.

At the briefing, Troyer said police now consider Clemmons a suspect, rather than merely a "person of interest."

Police don't know the severity of Clemmons' wound, and Troyer said he might already be dead.

Investigators have no indication Clemmons had a motive aimed specifically at any of the particular officers who were gunned down, Troyer said.

"He was upset about being incarcerated," Troyer said. "He was just targeting cops."

Jeff Kappel, spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, said early this morning police are using a robot to look for Clemmons in the Seattle house.

Several structures dot the property where Clemmons is believed to be holed up.

Police are making a methodical search of the grounds to "tighten the noose on where he is," Kappel said.