Bad Day at Work

[Nazrat]

Well, I am too lazy to find a link right now. 

Today was a bad day to work in family law in Tyler, Texas.  I am an Assistant Attorney General and prosecute child support cases.  At ~ 1:30 pm, we were set to begin the afternoon hearings after negotiating 98 cases in the morning. 

One of my 1:30 cases in which I was prosecuting the father for failure to pay child support went bad.  The father waited outside of the courthouse until his son and the mother arrived.  He then stepped out of his truck with an assault rifle and opened fire.  As he was shooting up the back of the courthouse, another AG attorney and I were entering the front.  We were pinned down as the back of the courthouse was shot up and the baliffs returned fire.  As the 1st floor is one 50 foot long hallway with glass doors at either end, we watched as the baliffs shot back while the rounds ricocheted down the hallway.  At last report, the mother was dead, the son was wounded and at least one officer is dead. 

None of our employees were injured.

Unfortunately, I negotiated the case in January and sat in an office with the father, the mother and the son.  The father was already facing charges for domestic violence at the time of that hearing.  All in all, I have spoken to the mother and the son a couple of times while speaking to the father only once. 

After gathering up all of our employees, I have spent the afternoon on the phone with Austin explaining what happened. 

Bad day at work.

(If someone can post a link, you have my thanks.)

[Signe]

Eek!  Your bad days are epic!  I'm glad your ok!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=529031

[SirBruce]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=529281

Bruce

[Shockeye]

Here's the link I found.

GUNMAN OPENS FIRE AT COURTHOUSE IN DOWNTOWN TYLER; AT LEAST TWO SLAIN

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.

[El Gallo]

Damn, glad to hear that you made out OK.  Whatever they pay you guys for working domestic cases, it isn't enough.

[Abagadro]

Ya no kidding. Glad you made it out ok.

[Mi_Tes]

Damn, I HATE to hear stories like this.   Glad you and the other OAG workers are ok at least. 

I also work in the child support field and see the anger when "messing" with someones money and kids (luckily never like this).  I hope an example is made of him and he pays for what he has done over and over (although it will never be enough to make up for what he has done).  

[Abagadro]

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

[WayAbvPar]

They might bother with a perfunctory trial, but even money says he gets a warning shot in the back.

Glad you are ok. My bad days at work involve things like actual work cutting into my f13 time!

[Nazrat]

Well, he didn't survive the gunbattle at the highway intersection during the second shootout.  Thanks to the good law enforcement officers of Smith County there will not be a trial. 

Bastard.  Fortunately, it sounds like the 18 year old son was only wounded and will survive.  He was shot trying to protect his mother from the rounds.

Did you ever just want to go Haemish and scream curse words?  Bad day, man.  Bad day. 

Added video. 

http://javascript:playVideo('360468', 'Dramatic%20Video%20Of%20Courthouse%20Shooting', 'v', 'News', '130000', 'News', '', 'www.kltv.com');

http://javascript:playVideo('360457', 'KLTV%207%20Julie%20Tam\'s%20Live%20Account', 'v', 'News', '153800', 'News', '', 'www.kltv.com');

Can't get them to post correctly so just cut and paste or go to KLTV news story

Thankfully, I'm not in any videos.

[Mi_Tes]

Considering all of this is supposed to be for the kids, saddened that this kid now has no one because of a selfish, irresponsible, and abusive father!  Even Haemish cursing can't express my rage.

[Strazos]

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

Bush isn't really for any kind of strong gun laws? hmmm

[sidereal]

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

But you just did.  Best not to.

[Margalis]

Bush might as well have pulled the trigger himself!

Just kidding, let's not go there.
---

Domestic violence is not fun. My parents got separated before being divorced and my father (who had no custody or visitation rights to speak of) moved into a place that was literally up the street. In retrospect that was incredibly retarded. This is after state troopers had come by our house several times after being called by our neighbors, etc. Not that my dad is a crazy viloent wacko, but it's just a volatile situation when you make a big stew out of family breakup, money and unchecked emotions. (And he was violent to some degree - my mother has a permanently dislocated or somehow otherwise fucked up neck after one of their altercations)

IIRC my mother got a restraining order (after some time) that was broken a few times without anything being done about it. It didn't even seem to occur to anyone that there was potential for anything to go wrong other than wacky hijinks.

[DarkDryad]

Not sure about the laws in Texas Naz but... if his son was 18.. why was he still paying child support? or was that for another kid? Just wonderin and all.
Also all the news reports say high powered rifle. You say assault rifle. Which was it because if it was a high powered hunting rifle the assault wepons ban wouldnt have touched it.
Glad to hear you are ok and all. Keep yer head down is not something you expect to hear at work.

[Nazrat]

He actually had 3 children.  It was the 22 year old that was shot.  There was an 18 year old and a 9 or 10 year old.  Child support in Texas goes until the 18th birthday or finishing high school.  The father hadn't paid a penny in child support since the divorce. 

Local police are saying AK47.  Assault weapons ban doesn't affect anything except the sale of new weapons.  It was a meaningless, headline grabbing piece of legislation that was cosmetic in nature.  FYI, the man was a convicted felon so he was violating the laws by having any weapon much less an assault weapon. 

Most of the office showed up for work today.  The one guy who was in the courtroom on the 2nd floor watching the shooting didn't come in.  He was pretty shaken up yesterday. 

We are waiting for the counselor to show up and talk to everyone.  Not much work going to get done today, I bet.

[DarkDryad]

Thanks for the clarification on many different issues. Glad to see you are talking it in stride many dont. Anywho keep yer head down and an eye open. :-D

[Paelos]

I'm sorry you all had to witness such an act of violence. Words don't usually help people when they were part of something like this, but know that you have my support. That may not mean very much, but if you need to vent or a sympathetic ear, send me a PM. I hope you can recover as will everybody else in your office, and again I'm sorry for the tragedy of all the families involved.

[jpark]

It certainly put things in perspective.  Glad to hear you're safe.

[Kenrick]

Sending you a heterohug from Austin.

That's worse than the worst nightmare.  I'm really glad you're okay.

Sidenote: I still want to win that HGTV Dream Home in Tyler.   

[Sky]

Wow, makes my confrontation with some punk kid yesterday pale by comparison. Had a problem patron show up at my house, had to deal with him. But he didn't have an AK...

[HaemishM]

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

Sometimes, Texas does some things right. You go after your wife, that's one thing. You go after your wife and kid and hundreds of fucking innocent bystanders, fuck you.

Glad you kept your head down, Naz.

[Daeven]

Damn. My version of shitty days? Sunshine and rainbows in comparison. Glad you made it out ok.

[Fargull]

Glad your okay Naz.  Damn, got a good friend who is working as a DA down near Houston and I thought about him when I first saw the news this morning.

[Train Wreck]

The suspect was taken into custody.

This is a travesty of justice.  A bullet should have been put into the back of his head on the spot.

EDIT - Then again, this is Texas we're talking about.  He'll be where he belongs pretty soon, anyway.

[Kenrick]

Wait, didn't the dude slit his throat after he stopped shooting?

??

[HaemishM]

No, he ran and was later shot and killed trying to evade police.

[Kenrick]

Eh, either way he wasn't "taken into custody." 

[Abagadro]

I heard on the radio that one of the people killed was a concealed weapon permit holder who tried to intervene.  Any info on that Nazrat?

[Kenrick]

Yeah I heard that on the news, too.  Said he took the bullet for the 3 year old or something.

Balls man.  Balls.

[Nazrat]

Yeah, it was a local guy with a concealed license.  He lived in a loft on the downtown square. 

He hid behind the maniac's truck.  When the guy started toward the truck, the civilian popped up and shot him twice in the chest/bulletproof vest.  The father then shot the civilian and walked around the truck to finish him off. 

Local police chief credits the man for saving the 22 year old son's life as the son was covering his mother's body with his own. 

I was lucky in that I could only see the baliffs shooting and never saw the suspect or anyone get hit.  Thanks for the support from everyone. 

I was fine until I learned it was my case and I remembered the family and my conversations with them.  That was tough as she was a nice lady who didn't speak English. 

Officers had a running gun battle with the man.  The current theory is that he was shot in the head through the head rest while driving.  He then stopped the vehicle in the street and got out for the final gun battle.  We are waiting for the official release of how many rounds were in this guy.  Rumors are astounding at this point.  Evidently he was wearing a vest with a flak jacket over it. 

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.

Right now, from my office, I can see the defense attorney that was appointed on my case giving a press conference so that they will leave him alone.  He is not the asshole that was on the TV last night.  This is a good guy with a bad client. 

The one pebble is making a lot of waves in Smith County, Texas right now.

[Strazos]

About the child support question....California for instance will compell someone to still pay until the kid is in their ~mid 20's if they're in college.

[Margalis]

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.

Translation please!

[Furiously]

IANAL(like 1/2 the board) but I think it translates to: Why wasn't he in the pokey instead of being out on the street where he could arm himself and do his wife and kids further harm, as he had every indication of being a repeat offender.

[Strazos]

With that kind of record, I can see no reason why the prosecution did not request remand, or why the presiding judge did not grant it.

Someone has blood on their hands....