A man accused of sexual abuse today gunned down four people outside the courthouse where he was standing trial, leaving one woman dead.
Bartholomew Granger, 41, apparently shot his 20-year-old daughter and her mother as he went on a rampage during the lunch recess of the trial at Jefferson County Courthouse in Beaumont, Texas.
His daughter Samantha Jackson, who testified against him yesterday, was in critical condition after the shootout, and a 79-year-old bystander was dead.
After the shooting Granger ran to a nearby building and took hostages while being besieged by police, but the hostages turned on him and took away his gun.
When negotiating with officials he apparently sounded more concerned with seeking medical treatment than with evading justice, and upon emerging from the building he was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
Minnie Ray Seabolt, 79, was shot as she tried to escape Granger's onslaught by running in to the courthouse, and died of her wounds.
As the gunman fled the scene, he ran over his own daughter with a pickup truck, sending her to hospital where she remains in a critical condition.
The other two victims - Granger's ex-wife and another bystander - were treated at hospital but released later in the day.
When he sought shelter in a business in the neighbourhood, the building's occupants 'refused to be victims' and fought back instead, according to police.
'They took the gun away from him and unlocked the door for the SWAT team,' a spokesman said.
Granger agreed to surrender himself in exchange for medical treatment, but when he was discharged from hospital he was immediately dispatched to jail.
He had been rushed to the hospital with 'very serious injuries', according to police.
Photographs taken by the Beaumont Enterprise show that Granger shot one victim just outside of the courthouse.
Judge Larry Gist, whose courtroom is in the building where the shooting took place, told CNN that he 'believed one of the witnesses may have been the mother of the child'.
'It was pandemonium,' said Judge Gist, describing the scene outside the courthouse.
When he heard gunshots ring out, witness Ricky Gandy said he rushed to his office window, whch overlooks a parking lot near the shooting scene.
'Once it started, it was kind of like the Fourth of July,' said Gandy. 'Several shots, I imagine, I'm guessing at least 30 shots all together.'
Granger had been on trial at the courthouse since Monday and was scheduled to resume testimony Wednesday afternoon, Judge John Stevens told KFDM..
The 41-year-old has a lengthy criminal history that includes convictions for possession of marijuana and unlawfully carrying a firearm, according to police reports.
Granger's lawyer Rife Kimler said the ongoing case was emotional, but he thought the trial had been going reasonably well.
'I didn't have him on my list of dangerous ones,' Kimler said of Granger. 'I've been doing this 21 years, and the ones I think are dangerous are in a file in my head. He wasn't in that file.'
In separate court filings, Granger hinted at the emotional strain of his ongoing court battle.
Two years ago, Granger sued the cities of Beaumont and Houston, their police departments and the two surrounding counties. Granger and three other family members sought compensation for the mental anguish caused by the allegations.
Granger complained in one filing of an 'unprovoked brutal attack' against his family.
'This insurrection has caused heavy financial burden and hardship upon our family and extreme psychological damage to the Granger family,' he said. 'We may never thrust [sic] the police again.'
A federal judge dismissed the civil suit in December.
A pickup truck riddled with at least a dozen bullet holes remained in the middle of the street Wednesday afternoon.
More @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2115012/Texas-courthouse-shooting-Bartholomew-Granger-opens-killing-one.html
No comments:
Post a Comment