Courthouse Shooting

[juvieco36]

Courthouse shooter had ammo, gas mask
(Last updated: May 8, 2008 4:28 PM)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities still don't know why a man opened fire inside a downtown courthouse lobby, but the weapons he carried in a backpack suggest he was in for a fierce fight before he was killed.

Detectives said they found 79 rounds of ammunition, an extra gun magazine, a lengthy fighting knife and a gas mask in the belongings that Glen Lee Powell brought to the courthouse shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Bailiffs shot and killed Powell, 30, after he fired at least two shots from a Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun at them, Pinellas County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said at a news conference Thursday. He said only about 12 seconds elapsed from when Powell entered the lobby until the gunfight ended. No one else was seriously injured.

While detectives scoured Powell's truck and other belongings in search of a motive, his mother said he was a frequent visitor to anti-government Web sites and harbored a deep distrust of police and other authorities.

"I just think he believed a bunch of lies," Virginia Powell told the St. Petersburg Times. "I can't imagine that he would have actually tried to kill anybody. I think he was trying to make some kind of statement."

She did not return a phone message left Thursday by The Associated Press.

His family and a pastor in his church said Powell may have been going to the courthouse to meet a deadline for filing paperwork in his divorce, but his mother said she did not think the divorce played a factor in the shooting.

Bordner declined to speculate on Glen Powell's possible motives, but said "we may never know." He said he was not aware of any writings or court documents being found on Powell or in his backpack.

Within moments of entering the courthouse, Powell fired at least two shots at bailiffs, Bordner said. The round struck Deputy B.J. Lyons in the shoulder and was possibly deflected by a piece of his two-way radio.

Four other people were in the lobby at the time of the shooting. All escaped injury, which authorities attributed to the quick work and training of the deputies.

They said Lyons and Deputy Marvin Glover remain on routine, paid leave while the shooting is investigated. Lyons was released from the hospital within hours of the shooting.

Virginia Powell said her son was a high school wrestling champ, served in the Air Force in California and did a stint as a Mormon missionary in Colombia.

She told The Tampa Tribune she asked to go with her son to the courthouse, which is in a neighboring county from their home in the Tampa suburb of Brandon, but he refused.

The courthouse reopened Thursday morning. Procedures were being reviewed, Bordner said, but the building had recently received a security upgrade and the swift reaction by deputies indicated existing policies were adequate.

"I think yesterday's situation, while it's a sad and tragic event, I think it demonstrates the security we have in place works," Bordner said.

[KBCraig]

Originally Posted by juvieco36

Courthouse shooter had ammo, gas mask
(Last updated: May 8, 2008 4:28 PM)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities still don't know why a man opened fire inside a downtown courthouse lobby, but the weapons he carried in a backpack suggest he was in for a fierce fight before he was killed.

Detectives said they found 79 rounds of ammunition, an extra gun magazine, a lengthy fighting knife and a gas mask in the belongings that Glen Lee Powell brought to the courthouse shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday.
....

"Fierce fight", eh? I could probably clean out my truck and find 79 rounds and an extra magazine.

[Movementarian]

So during this fierce fight he was going to stop and pack magazines? Sounds like more anti-gun propaganda to me.