Vegas Shootout

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581912,00.html

A gunman opened fire in the lobby of a federal building in downtown Las Vegas on Monday, killing a court officer and wounding a deputy U.S. marshal before he was shot to death.

Dave Oney, spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, told Fox News that the deputy marshal and a court security officer were shot at approximately 8 a.m. PT in the lobby of the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse.

The 48-year-old deputy marshal was hospitalized; 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.

A passerby, who was reporting for jury duty, caught dramatic cell phone footage of the shooting, which revealed that more than 40 shots were fired.

Click here to see the video

Authorities believe the shooter acted alone, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Roxanna Lea Irwin said.

The building was evacuated, police and news helicopters circled overhead, and Las Vegas police cordoned off the area for several blocks. A 16-story state and local courthouse two blocks away was locked down as a precaution.

After police arrived, paramedics wheeled at least two people down a ramp to ambulances.

Witnesses said a man wearing combat boots and fatigues was found dead in the bushes near the courthouse, Fox5Vegas.com reported.

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 U.S. 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 U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign. Neither was in the building at the time, authorities said.

Irwin said she saw shotgun casings on the floor of the federal building lobby.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7HiFbJyrzk

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3959962/unbelievable/?playlist_id=87249

Harry Reid's office is in that building.  He's rather unpopular right now.

[/speculation]

[HankB]

If I had been in the area when all that gunfire occured, I wouldn't have been taking cell phone video . . . I would have been putting something solid between myself and wherever I thought the gunfire was coming from.

[Monkeyleg]

If I had been in the area when all that gunfire occured, I wouldn't have been taking cell phone video . . . I would have been putting something solid between myself and wherever I thought the gunfire was coming from.

Which is more important: your life, or becoming a 60-second celebrity?

[Hawkmoon]

Which is more important: your life, or becoming a 60-second celebrity?

Umm, umm ... err ... WAIT! Don't rush me!

[makattak]

Which is more important: your life, or becoming a 60-second celebrity?

I have NO desire to risk my life for any amount of fame.



Of course, a better question is how much is that video worth to news organizations...

[MillCreek]

Quite the little fusillade in that video. 

[Perd Hapley]

Quite the little fusillade in that video. 

In the audio, you mean.  I don't see anything in the video, do you? 

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/22119310/detail.html

Security A Concern?

The shootings marked a tragic beginning to 2010 in Las Vegas and raised questions about security at public buildings.

Built in the early 2000s, the Lloyd George building was said to be one of the safest in the country and was designed to meet security standards enacted after the Oklahoma City bombing.

But those improvements, mainly designed to protect from bomb blasts, did not prevent the gunman from opening fire in the lobby.

Great-googlymoogly, how much freakin' security do you people need?

A gunman with a shotgun, outgunning the security in the lobby, with the element of surprise on his side, was stopped after only taking one life.

Do you really want INVINCIBLE security for a Federal building?  I don't.  I firmly believe if someone wants to trade their life to take out a government employee, they should be able to do so.  The only alternative to that, is callous indifference on the part of our elected officials that results in despotic legislation and heavy-booted enforcement.

[taurusowner]

Do you really want INVINCIBLE security for a Federal building?  I don't.  I firmly believe if someone wants to trade their life to take out a government employee, they should be able to do so.  The only alternative to that, is callous indifference on the part of our elected officials that results in despotic legislation and heavy-booted enforcement.

Yeah, it's not like government employees are people or anything.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Was this guy ONLY armed with a shotgun?  I have not heard anything else. If so, spray and pray was involved with the LE, big time. I know defending yourself is good, but come on. It's a wonder with that much lead flying that innocents were not hit.