The war on police continues, this time striking a small town Michigan courthouse.
A crazed inmate trying to escape from his court appearance wrested a gun from an officer and turned the weapon on two bailiffs, killing them and injuring two more people before he was fatally shot by other officers, a sheriff said.
People scrambled for cover Monday afternoon inside the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph, a city of about 8,300 people in the southwestern corner of Michigan, about 100 miles northeast of Chicago.
“Our hearts are torn apart. … I have known them for over 30 years. It’s a sad day,” Sheriff Paul Bailey said of the bailiffs.
Larry Darnell Gordon, 44, who was locked up on several felony charges, was being moved from a cell for a courtroom appearance when a fight occurred in a non-public area and he was able to disarm an officer around 2:15 p.m., Bailey said. The sheriff did not say what charges the inmate was facing.
Bailey said it does not appear that Gordon was handcuffed, adding authorities had “no warning signs” that the suspect would be violent.
The inmate shot a sheriff’s deputy, killed the bailiffs and then shot a civilian in the arm in a public area, the sheriff said.
During the incident, Bailey said Gordon took hostages for a short period before trying to leave through another door. The inmate then was fatally shot “by two other bailiffs who came to render aid, along with several other officers,” Bailey said.
“He was trying to escape,” the sheriff said.
Bailey identified the bailiffs killed as Joseph Zangaro, 61, and Ronald Kienzle, 63. He said the longtime, “well-respected” law enforcement officers were close friends of his who became court officers after retiring from their departments.
Zangaro was head of court security. He retired from the Michigan State Police as commander of the Bridgman Post in Berrien County. Kienzle retired as a sergeant of the Benton Township police department after serving in the U.S. Army.
Both had been employed by the court for more than a decade.
The injuries suffered by the deputy and the civilian were not considered life-threatening. Bailey said the deputy, 41-year-old James Atterberry Jr., had surgery on his arm and was “doing fine.” He said the civilian was a woman who also suffered an arm injury. He did not identify her.
Bailey said the courthouse would be closed on Tuesday. The surrounding blocks were cordoned off with yellow tape until Monday night, as investigators processed the scene and interviewed witnesses.
Gordon’s ex-wife, Jessica Gordon, told WOOD-TV and the Detroit Free Press that he likely was trying escape to see his family. She added that he was “not a monster,” but “an amazing man that got mixed up with the wrong people.”
Jessica Gordon said they divorced earlier this year but he remained close with his 6-year-old daughter. His ex-wife said she spoke with him Sunday and had no indication he was planning an attack.
The sheriff said not every inmate is escorted into court in handcuffs.
“We will look at our procedures and evaluate them,” he said.
Gov. Rick Snyder cut short a visit to Midland and traveled across the state to St. Joseph to meet with investigators and victims’ families.
Snyder called it a “terrible day in a wonderful community. … This is a particularly tough time for law enforcement. So I ask that everyone reach out and try to be as supportive of law enforcement across the state and across the country as possible in a difficult case like this.”
Marcus Muhammad, mayor of nearby Benton Harbor, said “together, we can pull through it and hopefully come out stronger.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
An inmate going to Court was able to grab a Policeman’s gun. Now do you know why a cop goes so crazy when a street crook tries to grab their firearm?!! This is why.
It appears the accused killer was mentally impaired and went beserk in the courthouse. Most of the other “mass” killings have been done by mentally impaired persons The finger on the trigger did the killing. The gun didn’t suddenly decide to kill as many people as it could, like O’Bummer would like you to believe.
Exactly what Michael Brown did in Ferguson, but he was black and this guy was white, so he deserved to die, black people should be able to do whatever they want, right, Obama does? If the cop in Ferguson hadn’t shot Michael Brown, who knows how many people he would have killed. On a side note, handcuff prisoners in the back, even in court. Another side note is, the ex-wife said that Gordon got in with the wrong people, but it was just him in court when he killed two bailiffs and wounded two others. I agree that people can influence other people, but the bottom line is, we are responsible for our own actions. Gordon took the lives of two people, and nothing will bring them back.
Nothing said about the officer he wrested the gun from, probably a 120 lb. woman who should never have had the job in the first place!
Rich
Read the article they were 2 old guys in their 60’s
You read the article! The gun was taken from a Sheriff’s Deputy and THEN the two Bailiffs were shot and killed
with the gun taken from the deputy!
You are so right, Arthur. These cops and Security people risk their lives daily, and I am sick and tired of hearing people say….”Oh, he was a good boy”, only to find out after the fact, these PUNKS have an arrest record, a mile long. They are NOT “good boys”, when they take lives!! This MURDERERS ex-wife said, of her former husband. He “was an amazing man”, who was just trying to see his family. SO HE MURDERS INNOCENT PEOPLE TO DO THAT? GOD BLESS ALL OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN BLUE, BE THEY BLACK OR BE THEY WHITE, AND PLEASE GOD, KEEP THEM SAFE!!!!
You’re very right. No HandCuffs ? ,as they step into the Court? What?? Sounds like “Hogan’s Heros”, Was that a Sgt. Shutz escorting the prisoners? Sgt Shultz would let’m carry his Heavy Rifle as they walked to the Court Door. Since when are prisoners to be trusted? Sad reminder,they paid with they’re lives.
This is a tragedy and it happens everyday. Some scumbag (in any color) does something illegal, gets arrested and does this, or tries to resist arrest and gets shot and people complain that the cops shot someone. Next time you are threatened and feel a need to call an officer, be sure you really want them there. Are you going to criticize them if they shoot the person you called them on.
When someone calls the police because someone is brandishing a gun in public, there is going to be a problem is the one with the gun tries to resist arrest
Absolutely!!! That is why you called the police in the first place!
In any situation where there are unsecured firearms in easy reach, a person who has already been convicted of several felonies is “high risk.” I hope that, at the very least, the procedures are changed to have any convicted felon handcuffed with arms behind when being brought into this type of environment. This was an incident waiting to happen!
Larry Darnell Gordon should be tried for murder and be given the death penalty of execution immediately, none of this waiting for a trial and dragging it out. He murdered two Baillifs in cold blood, which means he is fit to stand trial and be tried for cold blooded murder. The court room area killings will now
make the security in court rooms nationwide tighter. Those that work in law enforcement, serve in all 5 branches of the military go through a lot of stress on the job, and many times are doing thankless jobs. There are bad apples among them, the military will get rid of the bad apples as quickly as possible, so do the very well run police & sheriffs departments. They put their lives on the line everyday, have families. The NYC based media only tells the side they want you to only know about.
Robert Andres, you have a point. In Vancouver, BC they have a jail downtown which is under the Courthouse and is also a holding tank for people going to trial. My son used to work there and they do not allow any firearms in the jail area. Everybody is highly trained and capable of dealing physically with good back up and even the police have to turn in their firearms when they visit. I am not aware of 1 incident when anybody ever died because of an assault. We need to use wisdom in the areas where guns are allowed.
If I were a policeman I would never feel safe carrying my pistol on my hip.
It would be easy for someone to sneak up from behind and grab the pistol.
I would carry it either on the front of me or in a shoulder holster.
It would have to be easy to get to by myself, but not so easy for someone else.
All the people whining for gun control are short-sighted. The police cannot fill vacancies in the department because the risk to pay ratio is so unbalanced. When this happens, the remaining officers are at an even greater risk. We are quickly coming to a time that no one will take the job. Then, what are they going to do when the thin blue line that separated citizens from criminals is gone? No officers to protect us, the only guns will be in the possession of the criminals. This is where we are being led.
What is telling you that our services in police department should be more strict with all inmates and as well should be not to be gone where is only one officer on duty.
IF THIS MAN WAS IN CUSTODY GOING FROM JAIL TO COURT, WHY WASNT HE CUFFED AN CHAINED, THAT IS SOP.
We have many psycho Human man in World if police is taking a criminal mind psycho terrorist person to court for Justice then this is Police Duty to Cuff him before taking him in Front of A judge for justice.