“A fight occurred with that inmate on the way to the courtroom, and that inmate was able to disarm one of the officers”, he said, adding that the bailiffs and a sheriff’s deputy were immediately shot.
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“We had no information he was going to be violent and not everybody who goes into the courtroom is handcuffed”, he said.
The inmate first shot a county sheriff’s deputy, then fatally shot the two bailiffs.
Killed at the hands of Larry Darnell Gordon were bailiffs, Ron Kienzle, 63 and Joseph Zangaro, 61. Other law enforcement officers opened fire and killed the man, he said.
In 2011, Zangaro told The Herald-Palladium newspaper that security staff had a “ton of experience”, more than many police departments.
Gordon was in jail on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, Michigan State Police records show.
Kienzle was a court bailiff and had been employed with the court since April 2005.
Undated courtesy photo of deputy James Atterberry Jr. who was injured in the Berrien County Courthouse shooting. He said the civilian was a woman who also suffered an arm injury. Identified by South Bend stations as Kenya Ellis, she was listed in stable condition Monday evening in the hospital.
“We need prayers and the families need your prayers especially”, he told reporters.
The shootings of the bailiffs and the deputy came four days after four Dallas police officers and a Dallas transit police officer were killed by a sniper who claimed to be motivated by the use of lethal force by police against African-Americans.
Bailey said as soon as Michigan State Police are finished processing the scene, the victims’ bodies will be removed from the courthouse and taken to Grand Rapids for autopsies.
Berrien County officials will be offering grief counseling at the Administration Center on Main Street for any employee that needs it.
Responding to the shooting in Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder asked for support for law enforcement.
“We all need to reach out and be supportive of law enforcement in our state and across the country”, tweeted MI governor Rick Snyder after the attack.
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said after the shooting that “we must do better to prevent these types of tragedies”.
“What occurred today in my hometown breaks my heart”, he said in a statement.
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She said he didn’t have any specific problems with law enforcement but had been in legal trouble before.
