Asia-Pacific
Guard, gunman dead in Vegas federal building shots
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-05 05:29
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LAS VEGAS: A gunman opened fire in the lobby of a federal building in downtown Las Vegas on Monday, killing one court officer and wounding a second before he was shot to death.
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The gunfire erupted moments after 8 a.m. at the start of the work week and lasted for several minutes. Shots echoed around tall buildings in the area, more than a mile north of the Las Vegas Strip. An Associated Press reporter on the eighth floor of a high-rise building within sight of the building heard more than 20 shots during the sustained barrage of gunfire.
The US Marshals Service says the victims included a deputy US marshal and a court security officer. The 48-year-old deputy marshal was hospitalized, and the 65-year-old security officer died.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey said the gunman died across the street shortly after the shootout. The man's identity and motive were not immediately known.
Authorities believe the shooter acted alone, Chief Deputy US Marshal Roxanna Lea Irwin said.
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After police arrived, paramedics wheeled at least two people out and down a ramp to ambulances.
Dickey called the building evacuation "standard procedure" in such an incident, and said it was "for the safety of everybody in the place."
Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said the shooter had been shot in the head.
"It looks like he went in there and just started unloading," Morgan said.
The Lloyd D. George US Courthouse and Federal Building is named for a longtime senior federal judge who still hears cases. It has federal courts and offices for federal officials including US Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign. Neither were in the building at the time, authorities said.
Irwin said she saw shotgun casings on the floor of the federal building lobby.
