Police on Friday said they shot and wounded a man sought in the Halloween night killing of a Seattle police officer, just as a massive memorial service for officer Timothy Brenton drew to a close.

The shooting occurred as Seattle detectives pursued a tip at a Tukwila apartment complex, Tukwila police spokesman Mike Murphy said.

Thousands of other officers from around the country were attending the memorial for Brenton at KeyArena in Seattle.

Later, television footage showed dozens of cruisers surrounding the building, while some officers examined a car that, though covered by a tarp, resembled the profile of an old Datsun seen nearby when Brenton was killed.

The man fled when approached by detectives outside the apartment building, but he was quickly boxed in, Murphy said. Three detectives opened fire when the man drew a handgun, he said.

“When he produced a weapon, that’s when it became a different situation,” Murphy said.

A resident earlier told authorities about the car, Murphy said.

The Seattle Times and the SeattlePI.com, both citing law enforcement sources, identified the wounded man as 41-year-old Christopher J. Monfort, a former student at Highline Community College.

An adviser at the school told the Seattle Times on Friday night that Monfort was interested in criminal justice.

The paper quoted interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz as saying he had been shot in the head.

Monfort was critically injured and was taken into surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said. She refused to discuss his injuries.

Two potential witnesses also were detained for questioning, Murphy said.

Brenton was shot and killed as he sat in a car with rookie officer Britt Sweeney after a traffic stop Oct. 31. Sweeney was grazed in the neck but was able to return fire as a small, light-colored car sped away. The car, caught on surveillance cameras, was later identified as an early-1980s model Datsun 210.

The shooting – likened to an assassination – shocked members of law enforcement and many in the Seattle community alike.

KIRO-TV reported that Brenton was hailed as a loving father and husband in a service that included honor guards and bagpipers.

It took nearly two hours for the funeral procession – which included hundreds of police vehicles – to make the trip from an assembly area at Husky Stadium to the arena for the service, the station reported.

Officials in attendance included Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and former Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who now serves in the Obama administration.

Officers from around the country attended, and dozens of Pierce County law enforcement officers were among them.

Honor guard members and traffic officers from the Tacoma Police and Pierce County Sheriff’s departments also took part. The Lakewood Police Department sent 18 officers.

Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said some sheriff’s deputies worked Friday in south King County so that King County sheriff’s deputies could work the streets of Seattle for Seattle officers who attended the memorial.

Detectives have said they were looking into a possible connection between the killing and the Oct. 22 firebombings of three Seattle police cruisers and a mobile command post at a nearby city garage. Investigators reportedly found a note threatening to kill officers and fliers protesting police brutality at the arson scene.

News Tribune staff writers Adam Lynn and Stacey Mulick contributed to this report.