According to CNN, a man walked into the lobby of the U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas this morning, pulled out a shotgun and opened fire, killing a court security officer and wounding a U.S. Marshal before he was cut down in a hail of gunfire from the numerous security officers.
The motive for the attack was not immediately evident. An FBI spokesman said that the shooting was not believed to be connected to terrorism and there had been no known threat to the courthouse. We'll have to wait to see what develops on that.
The two U.S. Senators from Nevada, Harry Reid and John Ensign, also have offices in the nine-story federal building.
CNN includes a cellphone camera clip in their report and the volume of gunfire is pretty remarkable.
I've worked at a federal courthouse and I can tell you that the level of professionalism of the court security personnel and particularly the U.S. Marshals is impressive. These guys are polite and courteous, but they don't fool around.
This reminds me, sadly, of the attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum this past summer, in that the guy walked in, pulled out a long gun, and started blasting away -- and the guards on duty reacted immediately to this shocking development by acting immediately to return fire and no doubt save many of the lives of those that they are charged with protecting.
The word is used loosely these days, but these guys truly are heroes.
My thoughts are with the wounded Marshal, and with the family of the security officer.
Update: I meant to say that I believe that the court security officers are unionized, and (of course) the U.S. Marshals Service are all federal government employees. Remember that next time you hear someone loudly running down union members and government employees as lazy, worthless and overpaid.