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Tag: Courthouse Shooting

  • Courthouse Shooting: Georgia Authorities Kill Gunman

    A Georgia man’s plans to engage in a mass shooting on Friday ended with one injury and his own death.

    Authorities were forced to gun down Dennis Ronald Marx outside the Forsyth County Courthouse in Cumming, Ga.

    The 48-year-old reportedly drove up to the courthouse in an SUV at around 10:00 am. After riding up on the sidewalk, the man threw down spike strips and explosives in an effort to keep officers away from him.

    Forsyth County Sheriff Duane Piper said that Marx fired at police officers through the windshield of his vehicle.

    Deputies returned fire. The gunman received multiple gunshot wounds. One sheriff’s deputy was shot in the leg during the exchange.

    The injured deputy was identified as James Rush. He was the first deputy to encounter Marx.

    While it’s not known if he is the one who fatally shot the gunman, Rush is credited with preventing a larger tragedy.

    Said Piper, “The entire situation was solved by that deputy’s actions.”

    The 46-year-old Forsyth County deputy is expected to make a complete recovery.

    An investigation into Marx’s background revealed that the man had taken a terrifying amount of time to make preparations for the incident.

    He was armed with grenades, homemade explosive devices, and several magazines. Marx had also rigged his body with explosives.

    Marx was due in court Friday to enter a guilty plea in a drug case.

    His lawyer, Ann Shafer had described Marx as “unstable at times”.

    She waited for her client for 40 minutes before determining he wouldn’t be coming to court. Shafer said that as she was exiting the courthouse, she heard gunfire.

    Said Shafer, “I feel very lucky that I walked out the back of the courthouse instead of the front.”

    Her client had made threats against her and other lawyers in the past.

    In his complaint against the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department, Marx made various paranoid accusations against Georgia authorities. He at one point claimed that they had used chemical agents to make him believe an explosion occurred.

    Investigators are carefully searching Marx’s home, where he had reportedly not stayed in 10 days. They are concerned it may be rigged with explosives.

    Image via YouTube

  • Courthouse Shooting in Salt Lake City, Utah Ends in Death

    A defendant in a federal courthouse in Salt Lake City, Utah died after a U.S. marshal shot him today. The shooting occurred early this morning, and the story has been developing throughout the day.

    Initially information regarding the shooting was not being released. Police had been called at 9:45 in the morning. U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch told the Associated Press that the shooting occurred in a a gang-related trial in U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell’s courtroom.

    No other details were released. No information on victims or arrests or anything.

    The press and public were barred from entering the courthouse. Reporters began tweeting the limited information they had. Eye witnesses claimed they saw someone carried out of the building on a stretcher.

    That someone was defendant Siale Angilau. The 25 year old Angilau, also known as “C-Down”, decided to lunge at a witness with a pen in hand. A U.S. Marshall took action immediately, shooting the alleged gang member several times in front of the entire court.

    “It was kind of traumatizing,” Eye-witness Sara Jacobson told the Associated Press. Jacobson was in the court to support her grandmother who was scheduled to testify against Angilau. Prosecutors say Angilau was a member of the Tongan Crips, and with the assistance of his fellow gang members, he robbed convenience stores in the Salt Lake City Area from 2002 to 2007.

    The FBI investigated the incident and found that “during the trial this morning the defendant went after, engaged the witness stand, and when he engaged the witness at the witness stand, he was shot by the U.S. Marshals Service.” USA Today quoted FBI spokesman Mark Dressen saying, “from what I understand, the defendant may have grabbed a pen or a pencil and charged the witness stand at that time.”

    Judge Campell declared a mistrial stating “the court has met with the jury and and observed that most of the jury members are visibly shaken and upset by this episode. The court finds that this occurrence in the courtroom would so prejudice Mr. Angilau as to deprive him of a fair trial.”

    Image via YouPoliticsNews, YouTube