View Full Version : Las Vegas federal court house shooting this morning. W/video of incident.
Finding out more details now. As of now a Deputy Marshall's been shot and a security officer & gunman killed.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/01/las-vegas-gunmen-killed-after-shooting-two-courthouse-officers/1
USA TODAY's Donna Leinwand reports that a gunman shot a deputy U.S. Marshal and a court security officer this morning at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, according to U.S. Marshals chief spokesman Jeff Carter.
"The condition of our two employees is unknown," Carter says. "The courthouse is still being secured."
Carter says the gunman had been caught.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey says the gunman died shortly after the shootout at around 8 a.m., according to the Associated Press.
Update at 1:24 p.m. ET: The AP reports that one of the two victims has died, but had no further details.
YouTube is carrying a video from a bystander who was purportedly leaving the courthouse after being summoned there for jury duty. Numerous shots can be heard around the building.
Click here to view it.
Update at 1:28 p.m. ET: USA TODAY's Donna Leinwand quotes Carter as saying that the court security officer died of gunshot wounds and that the deputy U.S. Marshall is in stable condition at University Medical Center. Carter said authorities have not determined the motive for the shooting.
Youtube video of incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7HiFbJyrzk&feature=player_embedded
John_Wayne777
01-04-10, 12:54
That was a lot of gunshots.
The whole downtown area by the court house is closed down for the most part. LOTS & LOTS of gunfire! Local news is saying 5 Federal Marshalls brought the gunman down.
Looks like one LEO was killed and the scum bag was killed with a head shot. I was surprised at the amount of shots fired (30-50) for a single gunman with a shotgun.
A great illustration for the need for training for everyone... Very easily could have been a civilian was needed to bring the scum down as the shootout moved outside onto public streets...
Thoughts and prayers to the murdered LE's family.
Courthouses should have plenty of video surveillance. Hopefully they can determine quickly if the bad guy was acting alone. It seems they think he was acting alone according to news radio.
Looks like one LEO was killed and the scum bag was killed with a head shot. I was surprised at the amount of shots fired (30-50) for a single gunman with a shotgun.
A great illustration for the need for training for everyone... Very easily could have been a civilian was needed to bring the scum down as the shootout moved outside onto public streets...
Not that it discounts the deceased but he was a court security officer per the local news, aged 65. Currently there is one Marshall who is recovering at a hospital.
Deceased was retired Metro. The commentator on News 3 was making comments about it looking like the shooter was wearing tactical gear but from what they're showing it looks like someone in a hoody and work boots. Coming from an overhead shot from the helicopter.
rubberneck
01-04-10, 13:33
Watching the youtube video was an eye opener. If you watch it there is a guy between the camera and the court house and he seems to be totally oblivious to the danger he was in. Even the guy behind the camera had enough sense at one point to get behind a palm tree. The other guy just stood there looking around like nothing was going on. Yikes!
I'm going to need more mags.:eek:
The deceased is a retired Las Vegas Metro Sergeant according to what the news is saying now.
Also stating another dead body has been found.
My prayers and thoughts to the families of the CSO and the deputy US Marshall.
VooDoo6Actual
01-04-10, 14:25
tragic events just got back from there last Wed.
RIP LEO's.
I'm going to need more mags.:eek:
Shooting incidents are always over within 2-3 rounds being fired ;)
I thought I was all set with 46rds on me...maybe I should just go with a big ass Tommy Bahama shirt and a mag array underneath. :p
A few years ago when I spent a good amount of time instructing within my organization, we had a simunition exercise that involved 2-4 pax sitting in a vehicle that suddenly comes under attack. Students had to bail out of the vehicle and evade while utilizing cover. Each student had a Glock sim gun with three mags total. Instructors were told to not use cover. I went through countless exercises standing out in the open, laying down fire with a regular paintball gun, while many of these students unloaded all three mags before reaching the final termination point (all told, about 20 yards from the vehicles) and not hitting a fricking thing. Granted, these folks weren't shooters, but the results were telling nonetheless.
RIP to the security guard and good on whoever blasted the turd who kicked this thing off.
I thought I was all set with 46rds on me...maybe I should just go with a big ass Tommy Bahama shirt and a mag array underneath. :p
I have a shoulder holster with nothing but a double horizontal mag pouchs on both sides for just such occasions.
Evil Colt 6920
01-04-10, 16:38
holy crap that was a lot more shooting than i expected. im glad the perp was killed, my prayers to the victims and their families.
Prayers for the LEOs involved.
FromMyColdDeadHand
01-04-10, 22:13
I'm starting to think Leon in "The Professional" was under prepared.
That sounded like the movie "Heat"!
I think the old half a mag and out was when we were talking about muggings and such, not these new type AS shooter situations.
Not sure how much firing was going on before he started recording, but I can only hear sirens at about the one minute mark, and it sounds like they have not arrived yet- and this is downtown at a courthouse.
As far as I can tell, there weren't even double-taps going on.
Peace for the fallen and their families.
Very unfortunate but I'm glad the guy was killed so no one has to carry the burden of keeping him alive a minute longer.
Hopefully this does not incite any knee-jerk political reactions.
SeriousStudent
01-04-10, 22:42
Prayers for the LEOs involved.
+1.
I hope the Deputy U.S. Marshal makes a full and speedy recovery, and may the retired Metro officer's family receive comfort and strength. :(
SWATcop556
01-05-10, 00:32
Prayers for the fallen officer. Fast healing for the USM.
I just stuck a few extra G17 mags on my pockets.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581912,00.html
Fox is reporting the incident was over Social Security benefits.
A gunman upset over losing his Social Security benefits case, opened fire in the lobby of a federal building in downtown Las Vegas on Monday, killing a court officer and wounding a deputy U.S. marshal before he was shot to death.
Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to discuss the case, identified the shooter as Johnny Lee Wicks to the Associated Press.
While an investigation is under way, the officials say the early evidence points to the man's anger over his benefits as motive for the shooting.
Court records shoe Wicks sued the Social security Administration in 2008, but the case was thrown out and formally closed in September 2009.
Dave Oney, spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, told Fox News that the deputy marshal and a court security officer were shot at approximately 8 a.m. in the lobby of the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse.
The 48-year-old deputy marshal was hospitalized; the 65-year-old security officer died.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey said the gunman died across the street shortly after the shootout. The man's identity and motive were not immediately known.
A passerby who was reporting for jury duty caught dramatic cell phone footage of the shooting, which revealed that more than 40 shots were fired.
Click here to see the video
SLIDESHOW: Deadly courthouse shooting
"We don't believe it's terrorist-related at all," FBI Special Agent Joe Dickey said during a press conference Monday. "It looks like a lone criminal act."
Dickey said the shooter wore black pants, a black shirt and a black jacket. He said the man walked into the building with a shotgun under his jacket and opened fire.
The building was evacuated, police and news helicopters circled overhead, and Las Vegas police cordoned off the area for several blocks. A 16-story state and local courthouse two blocks away was locked down as a precaution.
After police arrived, paramedics wheeled at least two people down a ramp to ambulances.
Witnesses said a man wearing combat boots and fatigues was found dead in the bushes near the courthouse, Fox5Vegas.com reported.
Dickey called the building evacuation "standard procedure" in such an incident, adding it was "for the safety of everybody in the place."
Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said the shooter had been shot in the head.
"It looks like he went in there and just started unloading," Morgan said.
The Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building is named for a longtime senior federal judge who still hears cases. It has federal courts and offices for federal officials including U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign. Neither was in the building at the time, authorities said.
Irwin said she saw shotgun casings on the floor of the federal building lobby.
Not that it discounts the deceased but he was a court security officer per the local news, aged 65. Currently there is one Marshall who is recovering at a hospital.
The guys at the Federal Courthouse in my area are trained, but not necessarily ex-LE or current LE. There are several Marshals around at any given time though.
In my area, the "Security Officers" at the County Courthouse are anything but. They are actually Deputies employed by the Sheriff's office , and go through the same training as the line guys. They also make 600+ arrests each year, which puts them above any of the "road" squads in stats.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.