SEATTLE, (Reuters) – A man accused of gunning down  four police officers was shot and killed by authorities yesterday in a case that could affect a potential 2012 U.S.  presidential candidate who granted him clemency in the past.

Maurice Clemmons, wanted in the Sunday morning fatal  shootings of four officers in a coffee shop near Tacoma,  Washington, was shot dead by a police officer in south Seattle,  the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

The crime received national attention in the United States  in part because Clemmons, while serving a long prison sentence,  had received clemency from then-Arkansas Governor Mike  Huckabee, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in  2008 and has said he is considering running again in 2012.

Clemmons has been in and out of prison for various criminal  convictions over the past two decades.

He was sentenced in 1989 to 108 years in prison after being  convicted of aggravated robbery and other charges in Arkansas.  In 2000, Huckabee commuted his sentence and Clemmons was  granted parole, according to U.S. media reports.

Clemmons returned to prison a year later for a robbery  conviction, but was released again in 2004 by the parole board,  according to U.S. media reports.

Huckabee’s record of granting clemency to other convicted  criminals has drawn previous criticism.

Huckabee is a political conservative who is one of the most  prominent possible 2012 Republican presidential candidates. His  party prides itself on being tough on crime. Some Republicans  have accused Democrats of being too lenient on criminals.

Huckabee has sought to downplay his link to Clemmons.

“Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible  tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the  criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state,”  Huckabee said in a statement posted on his website on Sunday.

Authorities have called the shootings at the Forza Coffee  Shop an ambush, but have not ascribed a motive. The attack  occurred 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Seattle. The officers  were preparing for their day shift when they were shot.