Seattle ? Authorities believe the man sought in the slaying of four police officers is still alive and has been aided by a network of friends and family, a police spokesman said Monday night.

Officers surrounded a house in the Seattle suburb of Renton Monday evening, the second time in two days police had circled a home in their search for suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons. Police questioned residents who may have aided the suspect since the Sunday morning shootings, Pierce County Sheriff’s office spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Officers believe Clemmons was shot in the abdomen during the attack on the officers at a Parkland coffee shop. The 37-year-old may have received medical help and money from friends or family, Troyer said. And police believe some of those questioned have misled investigators to help Clemmons remain at large, he said.

Police are certain Clemmons was in a Seattle house on Sunday night, but was able to flee before police could contain the area. Police staked out that house overnight before SWAT team members determined early Monday that Clemmons wasn’t there.

Clemmons has had access to handguns, rifles and shotguns, Troyer said.

“It’s unfortunate he’s been a step or two ahead of us.”

Monday morning’s realization that the suspect had not been cornered after all prompted police to fan out across the city, looking for any sign of Clemmons. Authorities posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in the Sunday morning shooting rampage.

The manhunt came as authorities in two states took heat for the fact that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.

Police said they are not sure what prompted Clemmons to assassinate the officers as they worked on their laptop computers at the beginning of their shifts. He was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff’s deputy in the face.

Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting “that he was going to shoot police and watch the news.”

Authorities said the gunman singled out the officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop in a suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.