At 8 AM local time Monday morning, Johnny Lee Wicks, 66, opened fire with a shotgun at a security checkpoint at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, setting off a firefight with deputy U.S. marshals. He killed one officer, while himself also being killed in the Las Vegas courthouse shooting.
Johnny Lee Wicks reportedly dressed in black pants, shirt and jacket, entered the lobby and opened fire, in front of a set of metal detectors just inside the rotunda of the federal building. FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey said, "From what witness accounts have said, he walked in with a shotgun underneath his jacket and opened fire when he opened the doors. Seven officers responded and returned fire."
Evidence points to a lost lawsuit over Social Security benefits as the prime factor in the Las Vegas courthouse shooting. According to two officials who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, court records show Johnny Lee Wicks sued the SSA in March of 2008, alleging he was the victim of racial discrimination because his benefits were reduced when he moved from California to Nevada in January of that year. The lawsuit was thrown out and formally closed last Sept. 9.
In the lawsuit, Wicks complained that his Social Security benefits were cut following his move. He also accused federal workers of racism (he is black). In the seven-page handwritten complaint, Wicks wrote:
"This case from the start was about race. Lots of state worker(s) and agencies have took (sic) part in this scam mainly for old blacks who are not well educated. "
Besides Hicks, also dead in the Las Vegas courthouse shooting was Stanley Cooper, a retired Las Vegas police officer employed by Akal Security. Jeff Carter, a spokesman for the Marshals Service in Washington said that Cooper was a police officer for 26 years and became a federal court security officer in Las Vegas in 1994.
Also a victim in the Las Vegas courtroom shooting was a 48-year-old deputy U.S. marshal who was hospitalized. His condition and identity were not made public.
The Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building opened in 2002. It was the first federal building built to comply with blast resistance requirements following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.
The building has federal courts covering Nevada and offices for federal officials including Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign. Neither was in the building at the time of the Las Vegas courthouse shooting, however.
Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com
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