Updated at 7:24 p.m. ET: An assistant district attorney in Texas was gunned down Thursday morning in what appears to be a targeted attack, police say.

Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot multiple times while walking from the parking lot toward the county courthouse at about 8 a.m. local time, officials said. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died.

When asked if Hasse appeared to have been targeted by his attacker, Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said, "I would say from all appearances it is. But we have no concrete information on that. We're pursuing every avenue right now."

NBCDFW.com

Authorities investigate the Kaufman County Tax Office drive-thru after a deadly shooting on Thursday.

"We suffered a devastating loss today. We lost a really, really good man. He was an excellent friend and a spectacular prosecutor. He will not be easily replaced. He will be sorely missed by everybody in the office," said Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Mike McLelland. "I hope that the people that did this are watching because we are very confident that we are going to find you, pull you out of whatever hole you're in, bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

Chris Aulbaugh, the Kaufman Chief of Police, said no official arrests have been made in connection with the shooting but that they are following up on several leads, including multiple witness reports from various angles around the crime scene.

Agents with the ATF, FBI, the Texas Rangers and State Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety are at the scene assisting local and county law enforcement with the investigation.

Also on NBCDFW.com: Friend of slain asst. DA speaks out

Police said witnesses have reported two shooters wearing all black, one or both of them possibly wearing a tactical-type vest, and driving an older, silver Ford Taurus. Aulbaugh said they have not yet confirmed that there were two people involved in the shooting and if the shooter(s) were wearing a tactical jacket as described.

Police taped off the parking lot near the Tax Assessor/Collectors office, which is near the courthouse and is commonly used by judges and prosecutors. Officers later expanded the taped-off area to include two city blocks. Several streets around the courthouse and parking lot are closed as the shooting is investigated.

Investigators said they were not aware of any threats made toward Hasse and that they didn't know of any cases that might explain the shooting, but that Hasse was aware of the dangers associated with his profession.

"Mark was fully aware of the dangers of this job. He accepted them readily and was, as I said before, an absolutely stellar prosecutor and good friend," said McLelland. "Tell the people that they have lost an outstanding man who will not be easily replaced."

Eric Smenner, a friend of Hasse's, told NBC 5's Scott Gordon that while it was too soon to say what may have led to the shooting, Hasse had dealt with cases involving methamphetamine in the county, gangs and white supremacist groups. He described Hasse as a hard-working lawyer who "loved to tell stories" and often put dangerous criminals behind bars.

Tonya Radcliffe, a board member on the Kaufman County Appraisal District whose office is adjacent to the scene of the shooting, said a staff member heard the gunshots and called police. Radcliffe said she and her staff of about 25 are in the building and under lockdown.

Also on NBCDFW.com: More coverage on this story

During the early stages of the investigation, a hospital, several schools and county buildings, including the Tax Assessor/Collector's office, were locked down as a precaution. With Thursday being the last day for people to pay property taxes without a penalty, officials advised Kaufman County residents that they could still pay taxes using the county's pay by phone option or make payments in person at sub-courthouses and drop boxes.

A 36,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman is being offered with $10,000 coming from Kaufman County Crime Stoppers, $10,000 from a local Kaufman business and donations continue to pour in from local businesses. As always, tipsters may remain anonymous.

Anyone with information is asked to call Kaufman County Crime Stoppers at 1-877-TIPS-KCC.

NBCDFW.com Editor's Note: Greenville ISD was under lockdown due to a search for robbery suspects. The lockdown was not related to the Kaufman County shooting.

NBC 5's Randy McIlwain, Scott Gordon, Ken Kalthoff, Keaton Fox and Deborah Ferguson contributed to this report.

Updated at 5:40 p.m. ET: One person was killed and three wounded by a man who left a courthouse, retrieved a gun from his car and started firing in the parking lot, police in Beaumont, Texas, said Wednesday.

A detective outside the courthouse fired back. He quickly was joined by law enforcement officers from nearby buildings, police said.

The gunman retreated to his pickup truck and, still firing, ran over one of the people who had been shot as he drove away. He drove about three blocks and abandoned his truck in the middle of the street before entering a nearby construction business, police said.

Police did not provide details on the victims, but KFDM TV reported that the person killed was an elderly woman.

Initial reports had said four people were wounded.

The suspect, who was wounded, surrendered to police after briefly holding hostages in a building two blocks from the courthouse in Beaumont, about 80 miles east of Houston.

A judge told KBMT TV that the suspect is a man facing charges of having sexually assaulted his young daughter, who reportedly is mentally handicapped. He had been expected at a hearing Wednesday afternoon, the judge said.

The Beaumont Enterprise said the judge identified the shooter as Bartholomew Granger, 41.

Dave Ryan / The Beaumont Enterprise

One of the victims in Wednesday's shooting in Beaumont, Texas, is assisted by police.

Two of the victims were said to be relatives of the suspect.

"This guy was driving crazy and he was shooting and we were shooting and people were ducking under cars," said Jimmy Singletary, chief of police in Beaumont. "This was a classic shootout here that our guys handled very well." 

The suspect took hostages in a nearby building but, after a brief standoff, surrendered, said Zena Stephens, an official with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

"We contacted him by phone. He said he was wounded and he wanted to come out," Singletary said. "He had serious wounds. He was agitated."

Describing the shooting, Ricky Gandy said he went to the window of his office after hearing a "pop, pop, pop."

He saw police shooting at a pickup truck as it came out of the parking lot, but the driver "never really got in a hurry."

"Once it started, it was kind of like the Fourth of July," Gandy added. "Several shots, I imagine, I'm guessing at least 30 shots all together."

The shooting follows one at a county courthouse in Washington state last Friday in which a man shot a sheriff's deputy and attacked a judge.

Two days before that a gunman fired shots into the air and then traded gunfire with police outside the county courthouse in Tulsa, Okla., wounding a sheriff's deputy and a bystander.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Grays Harbor Co. Sheriff's Offic

Suspect Steven Daniel Kravetz was arrested Saturday in Olympia, Wash.

Updated at 6:41 p.m. ET: Authorities on Saturday arrested a man suspected in a courthouse attack in Montesano, Wash., at a home in the state capital of Olympia after a tip from his mother, according to media reports.

The mother of 34-year-old Steven Daniel Kravetz called Thurston County authorities after police released a flier with her and her son's photo. The mother, Roberta L. Dougherty, told authorities her son was at a residence in Olympia, The Seattle Times reported.

A SWAT team surrounded the house and negotiated his surrender, KOMO News reported. He was taken into custody without incident.

Kravetz is suspected of stabbing a judge and shooting a sheriff's deputy with her own weapon in a courthouse struggle in the coastal town of Montesano in Grays Harbor County, which is about about 90 miles southwest of Seattle and just west of Thurston County.

"He acted alone and we know him to be the assailant," Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Undersheriff Rick Scott said earlier Saturday. "We're operating under the belief that he's still armed."

Kravetz fled the courthouse with the officer's .45-caliber handgun after Friday's attack and showed up about an hour or so later at the office of his former attorney and asked to the use the phone, Scott said.

The attorney had represented Kravetz a number of years ago and "didn't know anything was up," Scott said.

Investigators believe Kravetz called his mom at about 3 p.m. and that she apparently gave him a ride out of the area, Scott said.

"We don't know what her knowledge or involvement is," the undersheriff said, adding: "We're concerned for her welfare. We don't know what his mental, emotional state was following the incident."

Around noon Friday, the deputy responded to a report of a suspicious person at the courthouse and confronted a man, Scott said. During a struggle, she was stabbed with either a small knife or scissors.

"When I went to assist the deputy, he had a weapon in his hand, a knife or something, and he was stabbing her," says Edwards. "And that's when I got stabbed."

When Davin attempted to draw her firearm, the attacker knocked her to the ground and took the weapon away from her, then shot her in the shoulder.

"He got the gun away from the deputy and went 'pop pop!'" said Edwards. "And [he] turned and looked at me then he went out the courthouse with the gun in his hand."

Both the judge and the sheriff's deputy were treated and released from a hospital hours after the attack.

Kravetz has 2008 felony convictions in Washington's for third-degree assault with a weapon and making a false statement to a public servant, according to court records, The Seattle Times reported. He was arrested after he refused to cooperate with police after being kicked out of a Centralia public library, Centralia police Sgt. Stacy Denham told the newspaper.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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