f13.net

GUNMAN OPENS FIRE AT COURTHOUSE IN DOWNTOWN TYLER; AT LEAST TWO SLAIN (http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14028947&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=226369&rfi=6)

Police shot a man who opened fire with a high-powered rifle on the east side of the courthouse square in downtown Tyler about 1:25 p.m., Thursday.

At least two people were killed and three others have been injured, police said. The suspect was taken into custody.

The two confirmed dead are a man and a woman. One of the injured is a Tyler police detective and another is a Smith County Sheriff's deputy. The third injured person may have been a civilian.

"I saw people lying everywhere that had been shot," said Nathan Hoffman, an attorney who was working in a law office directly across the street to the east of the Smith County Court-house.

Hoffman said coworkers were not being permitted to exit the front of their building on Spring Avenue because police were securing the crime scene. He said were police interviewing him at the office.

Hoffman saw the shooting, locked the front door of his office and crawled on the floor, urging co-workers to get down.

"I was sitting in my office and heard gunfire," Hoffman said in a telephone interview. "I knew the first shot was probably a shot, but the second one went off. I saw a guy walking down the street with a high-powered rifle shooting at the courthouse. I said, 'Everyone move to the back of the office,' and by then all hell broke loose."

Hoffman described the shooter as a short stocky man with a dark jacket and dark ball cap, "Just running down the street shooting."

"I locked the door and got the hell out of there," he said. The suspect was pursued north on U.S. Highway 271 to the Town House Motel at 2420 Gentry Pkwy., where police arrested him.

Not to make this a big political argument, but....

It's Texas and he basically went after the judiciary. I'm sure they are warming up the lethal injection chamber as we speak.

The suspect was taken into custody.

DA is currently trying to avoid answering the question of why the guy, a convicted felon on previous assault and gun charges, was given deferred adjudication for assault with bodily injury on the wife and son.  So far, the media hasn't figured that someone in the DA's office screwed up.

Pretty strange as I can't tell what caused him to fall.

.........

wtf yeah.

Or possibly even from the air, chopperstyle.

Not in the real world.

It's a tactic.  It's not a particularly effective one.  I've spent enough time on firing ranges to know that if you want to reliably and accurately put rounds on a target doing it from a vibrating, moving, inherently unstable platform such as a helicopter is the wrong option unless you have no other really viable alternative.  I can imagine a situation where as a commander you might want to keep your shooter on a helo for mobility reasons, I can also imagine as that commander your first instinct is going to be to try and find someplace stable for your shooter to perform his job reliably.

When your heartbeat can make a shot miss by several FEET expecting first class marksmanship from a platform that is bolted to a 2000hp rotary engine is probably expecting a bit too much. :roll:

I am an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Support
Division working in Tyler.  The horrific shooting that occurred on
Thursday was my case.  I negotiated with Mr. Arroyo and Ms. Estrada and
talked with their son in January.  I spoke to Ms. Estrada and her son on
February 17 also.  Another AG and I were on the west side of the
Courthouse on the steps during the incident.

Despite both being former military, we are not allowed by state law and
agency policy from carrying concealed weapons.  I would ask that you
include us in your definition of prosecutors in your bill.

As you know, child support cases raise deep emotional issues and
directly impact family finances.  We faced more danger at our remote
court site that morning at 227 Spring Street as we have no baliff, no
metal detectors, no weapons, no telephones (except for personal cell
phones) and only one entrance and exit.  As we negotiate jail time, lump
sum payments, and 10 year probationary periods, we are completely
isolated from any semblance of security.  The ability to at least have
the possiblity of armed child support prosecutors would go a long way to
ensuring peace of mind for the entire staff.

As my request is not currently agency policy and I face the potential of
adverse personnel actions if this request were made public, I ask that
no public mention is made of my name.  Please feel free to contact me
either by phone or email.

Sincerely,

You are not prevented by law from holding a concealed handgun license.
The only thing this bill will do, is to allow the district attorney to
carry his concealed handgun into the courthouse.  We really don't want
to complicate this.  I don't want to end up with a dozen exceptions on
the list.  The anti-gun people are already E-Mailing asking us not to
add anyone to the list. I appreciate your concern.

Thanks for your email.  I am certainly sympathetic to the difficulties
you face in your job and commend you for your work on behalf of children
and custodial parents.

I'm sure during the discussion and debate on this bill many deserving
groups will want the same consideration.  I will consider each and every
request but, as you know, the concealed carry law has always been
controversial and efforts to expand it have not come easily.  I believe
the law has worked well and most legislators and the public have become
more comfortable with it over the years.  But as a starting point I will
likely keep the proposal limited to DA's.  There are many occupations
that are "hazardous" and it would be difficult to figure out where to
draw the line.

Again I appreciate your comments and will keep them in mind as this
proposal is discussed and in the future.

Finally, you all also saw in the last few days stories about the tragic shooting in Tyler. Our staff at the Child Support Program office there were involved in the case that led to these horrendous acts of violence, and several witnessed the incident. They have handled themselves both in the child support case and the aftermath of this tragedy with grace and strength and the utmost professionalism, and are to be commended and thanked by all of us for bringing honor and credit to the agency even in the midst of such a terrible situation. Our prayers and thoughts go out to them and to the families touched by this violence.