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Courthouse violence not limited to Texas

SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Courthouse violence not limited to Texas

The shooting on March 14 that killed one woman and injured three was not the first fatal shooting at the Jefferson County Courthouse, and not the only one in the country in the past few months.

  • July 20, 1992
    Jefferson County, Texas

    Many courthouse personnel still remember the summer day in 1992 when Daniel Troy Smith shot and killed his ex-wife near the entrance to the Jefferson County Courthouse. The 32-year-old sheriff's deputy was in uniform when he hit Kathy Lee Rideau Smith with multiple shots from a 9 mm pistol.

    Kathy Smith was at the courthouse to talk to internal affairs investigators that her ex-husband was threatening and harassing. After shooting Kathy Smith, the deputy walked into the courthouse and surrendered.

    Daniel Smith was sentenced to 20 years on a murder with a deadly weapon charge. His projected release date, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website, is March 14, 2013.

  • March 9, 2012
    Montesano, Wash.

    A man identified as Steven Daniel Kravetz stabbed a deputy inside the Grays Harbor County Courthouse in Montesano. Superior Court Judge David Edwards attempted to assist the deputy, and he was stabbed in the neck.

    The suspect got the deputy's weapon and fired twice, hitting the deputy once in the shoulder.

    Kravetz fled with the gun and led officers on a massive manhunt until he surrendered.

  • March 7, 2012
    Tulsa, Okla.

    A sheriff's deputy, a suspected gunman and a bystander were wounded during an exchange of gunfire outside the Tulsa County Courthouse.

    The suspect, Andrew Joseph Dennehy, 23, was firing into the air and then casually sat down with the gun in his hands. When he was approached by deputies, he stood up with his gun and fired at least two shots at them.

    Deputies fired multiple times back at him after ordering him to drop the weapon.

  • Feb. 8, 2012
    Middletown, N.Y.

    Officers in Middletown, N.Y., killed suspected gunman Timothy Mulqueen after he opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun in the lobby of the courthouse.

    Police and witnesses said Mulqueen, 43, rode a motorcycle to the city's downtown, approached City Hall at first and then ran to the Middletown courthouse. During the gunfight with law enforcement, one deputy was wounded in the arm.

    Mulqueen had been arrested in August for menacing and harassing the 23-year-old daughter of the town's mayor. He was convicted on the harassment charge on Feb. 1 and fined $129.

  • Dec. 16, 2011
    Cook County, Minn.

    A county prosecutor survived three gunshots after a man who had been found guilty of criminal sexual misconduct returned to the court with a weapon. Jurors found Daniel Schlienz, 42, guilty, but he was not immediately taken into custody.

    Authorities said he left the courthouse and retrieved a handgun from his vehicle, and returned to the county attorney's office with the loaded weapon. Inside the office, Schleinz allegedly shot one of the witnesses from his trial in the leg. Then he shot the prosecutor.

    As he left the office, reports say Schlienz saw the witness on a nearby landing and shot him a second time. Both the witness and the prosecutor survived.

    He got into a struggle with a court bailiff, who was injured but not shot. Other law enforcement personnel arrived and took Schlienz into custody.

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