Texas Courthouse Shooting: At Least One Dead, Several Injured

At least 3 shot and 1 confirmed fatality at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Beaumont, Texas.

This story is still developing..

ABC News' Beaumont affiliate KMBT that at least three people had been shot, but that there were possibly more victims. The employee also said that the victims were visitors, not courthouse employees. Beaumont Police Officer Doug Kibodeaux declined to identify the suspect, but told KTRK that the suspect was going to court with his family this morning when he opened fire and shot several rounds. Kibodeaux could not say whether any of the victims were related to the suspect.

This is the second courthouse shooting to happen in the past week. On March 7, a shooting outside the Tulsa County Courthouse in Oklahoma left one deputy and three others injured. A barefoot man went to the courthouse plaza and began shooting randomly.

Source

Prayers to the victims and their loved ones.

reply to post by freakjive


Did a quick search, to try and verify if the victims were in fact just visitors, and found a couple additional details that I didn't see in the OP.

A gunman reportedly [color=A3FCFF]opened fire outside a court building in Texas, killing a woman and injuring several others on Wednesday.

The first shots were reported at 11 a.m. at the Jefferson County courthouse in Beaumont, TV station KFDM says.

[color=A3FCFF]The fatality was described as an elderly woman. The other victims were shot inside the court, in the basement of the county clerk's office and at the bus station.

The suspected shooter was arrested by police several blocks away in a building where employees wrestled the rifle away from him.

The alleged culprit was believed to be a defendant from a current sexual abuse trial, the Southwestern Record reported. Some reports said he used a rifle as his weapon.

A policeman said that the shooter had been headed to court for an appearance with his family before he opened fire, station KHOU said

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Thankfully, I haven't been in a courthouse, for several years now. But the courthouses that I have been in, have always had 1 or 2 armed guards/cops at the entrance. This guy was able to shoot people outside, then make his way inside, to shoot more people, before finally being arrested?

What the......!!

We all repeatedly see and/or hear, stories & videos of cops going too far using excessive force. Yet this idiot was able to wander around, shooting different people in different locations, and at a dam courthouse, before they finally ARRESTED him? There is something seriously wrong about this entire story. 99% of the time, this story ends with the shooter being shot dead, or currently in critical condition from a gunshot wound.


To clarify→ I am not condoning violence of any sort, but this guy is a obviously a moron. What is the point of going on a shooting spree at a courthouse, if you're only going to shoot random citizens, who have nothing to do with the law? All that he accomplished by shooting random people, was to unquestionably prove that his actions were 100% meaningless. You would think that he should have at least had a reason, regardless of whether or not others agree with the reasoning. It just seems that he had not even convinced himself of any reason.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


Awesome stuff! Thank you for adding pertinent info.

This is for good discussion:

We all repeatedly see and/or hear, stories & videos of cops going too far using excessive force. Yet this idiot was able to wander around, shooting different people in different locations, and at a dam courthouse, before they finally ARRESTED him? There is something seriously wrong about this entire story. 99% of the time, this story ends with the shooter being shot dead, or currently in critical condition from a gunshot wound.

You raised an excellent point here. This is also Beaumont, TX. I'm not trying to stereotype, but I used to live close. There would have been MANY people armed (not just LEO) around this area. You're right...something stinks.

My sister lives close to Beaumont so I'll give her a call in a couple hours (she's working now) to see what she's heard.

Originally posted by freakjive

You raised an excellent point here. This is also Beaumont, TX. I'm not trying to stereotype, but I used to live close. There would have been MANY people armed (not just LEO) around this area. You're right...something stinks.

Yeah, I had a few stereotypical thoughts too.

At first, I was thinking that it was even stranger that this was done with a rifle. It had to have been clearly visible as he was walking up, in the middle of the day. Not easy to tuck it into your pants, and cover it with your shirt.

Then I thought, well this is Texas..... Someone walking around downtown with a rifle, in the middle of the day, may not raise as many suspicions in Texas, as it would a little further north.\



That may, or may not, be accurate. It was just a thought....

reply to post by freakjive


My husband and I drove through downtown Beaumont apparently right after this incident occured, We had no idea what the heck was going on, but police were blocking all the intersections in the courthouse area and we got detoured several times. We didn't find out about what happened until about five minutes after I got home when I received a frantic phone call from my father who was worried because my sister works at city hall which is maybe a block from the courthouse.

The elderly lady that was killed was a courthouse volunteer from a neighboring town (Deweyville) who was in her late 70's. Two of the other three shooting victims were the shooters own family- his wife and daughter. The wife and another victim were treated and released, but as of this morning the daughter was still in the hospital. I should note that his wife and daughter were scheduled to testify at the shooter's trial for sexual battery.

The shooter made the mistake of trying to hide and take hostages at a Beaumont construction company, where workers at the company overtook and disarmed him. Don't mess with construction workers man!!!

I should also note that the shooter's brother, also charged with the same crime, was arrested in Houston where he was doing some kind of conference with Quanell X (don't know if that's spelled right) since a judge issued a warrant for his arrest as a safety to the public. I think they were afraid that he would go bonkers like his brother.

This sort of thing is very unusual for the Beaumont area and really took people by surprise. I personally do not live in Beaumont (just nearby) but it doesn't affect my travel there. This incident was isolated and I have no fear of the area. As a matter of fact I have to go there today. Sometimes individuals go nuts and that can happen anywhere.

reply to post by BrokenCircles

He wasn't walking around with a rifle. He still had a couple of hours before testimony was to resume and he walked out to his truck and got his rifle. A few years ago they installed all kinds of extra security in the Jefferson County Courthouse including X-ray machines, metal detectors and extra surveillence cameras and guards due to a hostage incident that occurred with a prisoner armed with a fake gun which ended quickly.

If you were to try walking around downtown Beaumont with a rifle the police would be all over you! The courthouse is surrounded by the police station and a sherrif's department sub-station. And contrary to popular belief unless you are out in the country during hunting season if the police see someone walking down the road with ANY kind of weapon you should be prepared to face a whole lot of questions. That sort of thing is NOT the norm even in Texas.

reply to post by littled16

Originally posted by littled16

........A few years ago they installed all kinds of [color=C0FFB0]extra security in the Jefferson County Courthouse including [color=C0FFB0]X-ray machines, metal detectors and extra surveillence cameras and guards due to a hostage incident that occurred with a prisoner armed with a fake gun which ended quickly.

If you were to try walking around downtown Beaumont with a rifle the police would be all over you! [color=C0FFB0]The courthouse is surrounded by the police station and a sherrif's department sub-station.........

The Huffington Post article that I quoted from yesterday, has been updated, and now shows a few more additional details.

UPDATE: [color=C0FFB0]The number of casualties rose to five with one person dead and four wounded
in the shooting at a Beaumont, Tex. courthouse today, ABC News reported. The violence unfolded as part of a hostage situation at the Jefferson County Courthouse, according to a sheriff's deputy who spoke to CNN.

Police say that one of the victims was [color=C0FFB0]the shooter's daughter. Cops say the gunman shot her and ran over her, according to KPRC. The station reported that the gunman's ex-wife was another victim.

Most of the relevant details from yesterday, remain there with no changes.

A gunman reportedly [color=C0FFB0]opened fire outside a court building in Texas, killing a woman and injuring several others on Wednesday.

The first shots were reported at 11 a.m. at the Jefferson County courthouse in Beaumont, TV station KFDM says.

The fatality was described as an elderly woman. [color=C0FFB0]The other victims were shot inside the court, in the basement of the county clerk's office and at the bus station.

The suspected shooter was arrested by police several blocks away in a building where employees wrestled the rifle away from him. [color=C0FFB0]Police shot the gunman before arresting him, Fox News reported.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Ok, so this is what I have gathered, based off of your comments, and from what is in that article:


Somewhere around the times of 11:00 am, til noon (+/-), in the middle of a nice clear warm day. (It was nice here, anyways, and as far as I know, there weren't any big storms in Texas yesterday.)
This idiot was able to:

Shoot people outside of the courthouse

Run over at least one person(his daughter), with his vehicle

Made his way inside of the courthouse

Which also happens to be where local city police, and county police offices are located.

Then he shot more people

Left the courthouse

Made it a few blocks away

Where he was finally subdued by some real people

Then the cops made their way to where he was at

Cops shot him

Then they arrested him

Am I wrong with any of those details? The way I see it, is that even if half of those↑ are incorrect, every dam on-duty cop, that was near that vicinity, should be immediately fired, because they are obviously incompetent, and cannot do the job that they are being paid to do.

edit on 3/15/12 by BrokenCircles because: (no reason given)

reply to post by BrokenCircles

Some of it's right, some isn't. Court broke for lunch (yes, it was a sunny day). Granger went to his truck and got Baretta assault rifle and shot only 4 people with 1 death and daughter still in critical condition as of this morning. Shooting was outside with him driving truck while shooting. Cops immediately were on it with a huge shootout (truck was full of bulletholes) but they missed the shooter (he was not shot). He ditched truck and ran inside a machine shop (RCI) and tried to take hostages but was overpowered by workers and disarmed.

He was not shot, and apparently was perfectly sane. He and his brother were both charged with sexual crimes against a child and the shooting seems to be to prevent his wife and 20 year old daughter from testifying. The two brothers also had filed a $250 million lawsuit in Houston federal court claiming the victim's family was lying. That's what the conference in Houston that the brother got arrested at was about with Quanell X; the suit was dismissed.

The incident occurred very quickly and the police were on it immediately. Noone could have predicted something like this would happen, and cops are in the courthouse sure- but they're not hanging out in the parking lot across the street. I don't like cops very much but they were on him as fast as they could get outside and spot him.