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A man opened fire at a Delaware courthouse on Monday, killing two women and wounding two others before he was fatally shot, officials said.
The shooting occurred at around 8 a.m. ET at the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington, Del., when the gunman was stopped by Capitol Police at a security checkpoint inside the main lobby, Mayor Dennis Williams told NBC10 in Philadelphia. The court was not yet open.
Delaware State Police Sgt. Paul Shavack said that the two people wounded were Capitol Police officers. They were transported to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., with non-life threatening injuries.
Shavack said the suspect exchanged gunfire with officers in the lobby. It was not immediately known whether the suspect was killed by police or died of a self-inflicted wound.
Police said they have preliminary identification of the gunman, who was in his late 20s to early 30s, but would not yet release that information.
Shavack said investigators and search teams were canvassing the 12-story courthouse building as a precaution to protect those still inside, but they believed the area was secure.
“We believe that this is a lone gunman but we continue to operate under procedure,” Shavack told reporters outside the courthouse Monday.
Defense attorney Brian Chapman told NBCPhiladelphia.com that the building’s security personnel make it very hard to breach security.
"There are at least four or five rows of metal detectors when you go in, you put your belongings through, then you have to walk through the metal detectors,” Chapman said. “Then there are usually eight to 10 police with wands checking everyone and after that you still have to walk by a desk where capitol police sit."
Dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks were on the scene, and the streets were cordoned off for several blocks around the courthouse, DelawareOnline.com reported.
Five elementary schools and one high school in the area were on lockdown Monday morning.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
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Hi everyone! Hey a thought occurred to me after seeing yet another full bore over response by PD to an incident like whats going on in SoCal and all over the country....... for all you bank robbers out there this would be a good time for one of those diversionary bank robberies dontcha think?..... Just sayin.............
This is one of many stories that should just hit you hard if you are a Patriot.They are the great stories of the first 500 years of independent AMERICA.These people are losing their lives in a very silent war. They are heroes. Celebrate their deaths in this fight. They join millions of dead fighters.
There is a war and it is silent. It is our LOVE of guns vs. our responsibility as adults. This war will take thousands of more victims, LOTS OF THEM, before there is even a standoff, much less a victor.
500 years?
Go, my thought exactly. Fox must have told him the US is over 500 years old!
Nah, both of you mindless folks dont understand that when I say 500 years, sadly, I mean that we have AT LEAST a few hundred years more of this GUN violence stuff before any of us take it truly as serious as we should. Till then, "gun control" is a fad and killing each other is a way of life. Most people "got it". We are living happily in the first 500 years at the present time. I believe we are somewhere around 330 something years left before I change it from first 500 years to first 1000 years.
holy hell ,, do what ever , this is unreal, no words from me from now on , unless ill tell you all a new joke i hear or come up with , no more news for me, , god bless them that got killed and the police that stop the crazy, good by , and keep your heritage going and let make good history, no more bad,
Ok, right off the bat people understand this is NBC (liberal media)'s assisting in government agenda on gun control. The Obama administration knows that repetition is key to brainwashing society therefore they use "MEDIA". Joe Biden even said: "America has a short term memory" That is an insult to you people! From an intelligent stand point day in and day out we constantly hear the agenda being pushed. Are any of you media lovers aware that the United Nations longs to disarm our heavily armed nation? Do the research for your self on UN policy and Agenda. Obama works very closely with the United Nations which is made up of many radical Muslim extremists. When and I say "WHEN" America is disarmed, you will only have your self to blame for buying into all the propaganda and not using all the technology you have in front of you for your own good and the good of America. Many say guns are too ingrained in our society for the government to take them away, well it goes back to the age old question"How do you eat an entire elephant?" "The answer is one bite at a time". Listen, things are only going to get worse and we are headed towards a one world order and everything points to that. We have a leader destroying America from the inside out and he does it very intelligently and eloquently with persuasive words and a shield of little children. Why does he spend so freely? Because he doesn't care about our future in America. Why does he promote the destruction of the family backbone of our culture? Because you believe that tolerance will help us all get along but in fact we are more divided because we no longer question what is right or what our children should or shouldn't be taught(education). Why is social welfare enormous under this administration? Because it drains ALL our resources and speeds up our dependance on a bankrupt government! Why take our guns away? Because at some point you all will wake up to reality! "When a government is big enough to give you anything, it is big enough to take away everything."
The bogeyman is going to get you, coward!
Go Steelers...What makes you such a bad ass, duckweed?
Again, that I'm not skeert, like you are
Well GS from someone that has bee to war...three times. If you are not at least a little fearful these days you are either stupid or completely oblivious. Courage has NOTHING to do with being afraid. Unless you have faced down some one trying to kill you and come out alive by virtue of your OWN (and not dial 911) actions you have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about and no right to criticize any one else about it.
My rights are the same as yours and I'm not even a little fearful
So we can deduce that GS is stupid!
I'd rather be stupid than a coward, coward
What a great post! Very well done.
This all could have been prevented if they shot him first before he pulled out a gun and shot them !! What's wrong with you people !!!
Even two trained, well armed, military people cannot defend themselves from the element of surprise. SURPRISE!
Ahhh, but if they were packing 100 round Military Assault Weapons this would have been a much different outcome !!! Fer Sure !!!
Delaware?! Glad I moved to Europe where there is great culture and food, great red wine as well!
I am not from Del but I am glad you moved to Europe too.
scooter,ya think you might know these people or something????get over yourself, this happens everyday,so do auto fatalities,drug overdoses, industrial accidents etc...This site just loves people like you.Your like the guy that waits at the mailbox for his mail everyday! Second of all,why do all you dumbasses think just because someone owns a gun they belong to the NRA???Like saying just because I follow the cubs I have season tickets.
This just in the shooter in his 30s was described as black with black hair black eyes, and a black gun wearing black clothes! Go figure; we must disarm all blacks and democrats to stop the senseless shooting obama has generated at tax payers expense! Don't give up your God your guns or the boy scouts to the HMIC!
All cowards must be disarmed regardless of their color, political affiliation, etc.
I covered them all in my report? I forgot to mention that the gun was stolen!
What? hahahahaha Too much Agent Orange?
GoSteelers-1249883
Betting you are already disarmed!
Terry: Of course I don't own a gun, only cowards own guns. I am not a coward like you
It's called "suicide by cop". You want to die but would rather make somebody else do the dirty for you.
And another sicko making responible gun owners look bad.
I can't even think about how the kids are feeling. First their dad abducts them to South America for 19 months then he kills their mom. I will be praying hard for them.
Oh shoot!! It happened again. Maybe the NRA is right after all. If only those guards had guns to stop this lunatic (or metal detectors to determine if he was carrying a weapon).
I am so glad, as well, that our well-eductated (?) participants can critique this article for breaking the news without all the details. I am sure that we would all be happier to learn about this event next week after all the information has been vetted properly. We could even wait for the trial so we know the guilt verdict [oh wait -- they shot the man dead].
Why is about 90%+ of all of this happening in blue states? Just askin'.
Back up your stats, coward
it is not...just stating...
It is clear to me that we just don't have enough guns on the streets. I think to solve this problem we need to have automatic gun issuance to every person who is born all about to be born. On the other hand lets issue two guns for each.
Geeez go steelers if there were 10 more of you in Pitt you could get a football team together!!Why don't you give us your badass address so we can talk over a beer.
Will you bring your big gun, coward?
GS your infatuated with cowards; you bringing a pointed stick to the gun fight? Voted for the muslim, on the dole? all of the above?
Nam: Are you bringing your big gun to the imaginary gun fight? Still living in the past? Voted for the white guy? Always vote for the white guy? If you aren't on the dole now, you will be soon, right old white guy?
Go, I'm telling ya have your nanny bring ya over,few hours away.love to chat it up.
said the cowardly gun owner 45
WHAT...??? No 'assault weapons', this can't be right...run it again, this time interject the 'assault weapons'...
It is now known that the gunman was a known criminal who was once featured on "America's most wanted",and has done 2 years in prison..another case where a criminal with an illegal gun did his evil, and it took a good guy with a gun to end it.
But according to 0 if the good guys had no guns this guy would never have committed any crimes. It's the good guy's fault.
Ban good guys!
So what, now EVERY shooting story will be considered propaganda to support Pres. Obama's gun control plan? Get real! There are reported shootings every 'day'. My comment here is, the NRA and several government leaders want armed guards at schools, and teachers to carry guns? If fully trained security, a government building with metal detectors cannot prevent this kind of violences, do you really think an amatuer gun owner could protect our children?
Qualified security is used all through our society because it works...And the full story isn't known yet ....there could be all sorts of variables...in any case no one thing will prevent all evil...and evil will never be legislated away.
I just now read elsewhere that police shot him before he went through the metal detectors...So that 'blows" the security guards don't work theory"
Alot of people died this past weekend, from varying causes, but how many got coverege on MSN???? only those that had "gun" as a cause.....just stop, we all get it, you don't like guns or the people that own them.
Why do you come to this site?
GS this isn't the sports page; you don't seem to have a clue what your talking about? Why do you come to this site?
NamVet: It only seems like I don't know what I'm talking about because your mind is not as sharp as it once was, is it?
Have gun ... will shoot.
As American as mom and apple pie.
With the statistic increasing each year, currently we lose 86 citizens a day to gun violence in the United States.
We lose more citizens to gun violence each year than the total number of soldiers we've lost in both Afghanistan, and both Iraq wars.
Soak that previous sentence in for a while.
I am a gun owner. But I fully understand the implications.
...has anyone counted how many people die because of doctors ?.....but they're trying...now soak the answer to this one.
Actually HRD.... the statistics are DECREASING every year. At least according to the FBI.
The good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun idea; the concept of gun free zones indicating no resistance. Both are seriously flawed because they assume a gunman places value on his life. The threat of violence against a suicidal person is nothing.
Will the NRA next suggest that private guards be hired to protect the state cops?
Bazookas at the front door.
...and the leadership and government are creating what kind of society ? ? ? ?
NRA members implore you to ignore this shooting, as no Assault Rifles were used.
If we just would have taught those guards the talent of X-ray vision and premonition, all of this could have been avoided.
I may be dreaming but have these incidents of gun violence on a large scale increased since Obama was re elected? Seems too odd.
The bogeyman is outside your door now. Quick, grab your big gun!
No, they just report it more.
Randall ,just being reported more nothing more !!!