“I believe he was probably terrified of having to go to prison and not seeing his family again”, Gordon said.
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The incident occurred on the third floor of the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph, 100 miles northeast of Chicago.
The deceased courthouse bailiffs were identified by the Berrient County Sheriff’s Department as retired Michigan State Police Lt. Joe Zangaro, 61, and retired Benton Township police Sgt Ron Kienzle, 63. They were our friends, they were my colleagues. He retired from the Michigan State Police as commander of the Bridgman Post in Berrien County.
Family members confirmed that Atterberry was shot in the arm, hand and finger. Bailey did not identify a civilian woman wounded in the shooting.
Police say 45 year-old Larry Gordan, an inmate at the jail facing several felony charges, was being moved from the cell to the courtroom, when he got into a fight with one of the sheriff’s deputies and got ahold of his gun.
Bailey said the inmate wounded the deputy before shooting and killing Zangaro and Kienzle.
The inmate first shot a county sheriff’s deputy, then fatally shot the two bailiffs. She was listed in stable condition Monday evening at a local hospital.
A USA inmate at a MI courthouse shot and killed two court officers and wounded a sheriff’s deputy Monday during a struggle to escape before responding officers returned fire and killed him, officials said. The sheriff says the inmate was killed by other officers.
The names of the three dead won’t be released until relatives have been notified.
Two bailiffs and a suspect are dead after a courthouse shooting in St. Joseph, Michigan, Berrien County sheriff’s Lt. Paul Bailey said.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder addresses the media on Monday, July 11, 2016, in St. Joseph, Mich.
Bailey said Gordon was a prisoner who took a gun from one of two bailiffs escorting him to a courtroom and then began shooting as he tried to escape from custody.
The courthouse remains closed as an investigation into the incident continues.
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“They secured the door and the inmate started fighting with the bailiff and the deputy”, he said.
