a guard at a federal courthouse in las vegas was killed and a US marshal injured when some guy opened fire in the lobby of the building. the gunman was also killed in the firefight that he started. as of yet there was no information on what the shooter's problem was. in adition to being a federal courthouse both Nv. senators have offices in the building but they were elsewhere at the time of the attack. the motive for the attack remains unknown and the gunman's name has not been made public. it should be noted that this is not a case of a defendant trying to escape during trial and attacking a gard but reather a targeted attack on the building. the posiblity of terrorism dose exist here.

I just read about that. Sad

By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago
LAS VEGAS – A gunman opened fire at a federal building in downtown Las Vegas on Monday, killing one court officer and wounding a second before he was shot to death.
The gunfire erupted moments after 8 a.m. at the start of the work week and lasted for several minutes. Shots echoed around tall buildings in the area, more than a mile north of the Las Vegas Strip. An Associated Press reporter on the eighth floor of a high-rise building within sight of the building heard a sustained barrage of gunfire.
A passer-by said he counted at least 40 shots.
"The first shot that I heard was a shotgun blast. I knew it wasn't fireworks," said Ray Freres, 59, a sandwich shop manager and Vietnam veteran who said he was behind the federal court building at the time.
"I heard an exchange of gunfire. I was watching the street," Freres told the AP. "If they were coming my way, I was going the other way."
The U.S. Marshals Service said the victims included a 48-year-old deputy U.S. marshal who was hospitalized and a 65-year-old court security officer who died.
U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told reporters it appeared the gunman acted alone and the shooting was not a terrorist act.
"Right now they have no motive established," Ensign told a news conference outside the building. "Bottom line is, he didn't get past security."
Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Roxanna Lea Irwin also said authorities believe the shooter acted alone.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey said the gunman died across the street shortly after the shootout. The man's identity and motive were not immediately known. His body remained for several hours in front of the restored historic Fifth Street School, a sprawling white stucco campus that dates to 1936 and was recently renovated.
John Clark, director of the Marshals Service in Washington, did not immediately identify the officers, but called them heroes.
"The brave and immediate actions of these two individuals saved lives by stopping the threat of a reckless and callous gunman," Clark said in a statement.
Bullet holes marked the entrance of the eight-story modern federal building, which was locked down after the shootout. After police arrived, paramedics helped two people out and down a ramp to ambulances.
A helicopter view showed heavily armed officers in flak jackets scouring the federal building's roof. Shortly afterward, employees in small groups were escorted by armed officers to the auditorium of the Las Vegas Academy, a school three blocks away.
Dickey called the building evacuation "standard procedure" in such an incident.
The gunfire erupted as downtown was busy with office workers and jurors reporting for duty, both at the federal building and the 16-story Regional Justice Center, which houses state and local courts two blocks away.
The state courthouse was evacuated as a precaution and closed for the day, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.
Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said the shooter had been shot in the head.
"It looks like he went in there and just started unloading," Morgan said.
The Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building opened in 2002 and is named for a longtime senior federal judge who still hears cases. It has federal courts covering Nevada and offices for federal officials including Ensign and fellow U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Neither was in the building at the time, authorities said.
The structure was touted as 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.

Walking into a courthouse and opening fire could technically be defined as an act of terrorism. Although not organized terror, it is a personal terrorist act, whatever the agenda is. Or you can call it another pshycho with a gun.

Cats,

I believe being a terrorist depends on the motive. That should separate someone who is just insane from the "terrorists" as far as the law goes.

I could have misread the law on it though

http://terrorism.about.com/od/whatisterroris1/ss/DefineTerrorism_5.htm

Terrorism is terrorism. Acts of hatred and cruelty aimed at striking fear into the hearts of a community. Perhaps our society should do something about helping people who are on the brink of destruction. More than just listing a suicide hotline that sometimes answers and sometimes doesn't. What if we funded a free psychiatrist clinic for folks who are falling off the edge? Put one in every city. Call it The Relief Zone or the Anger Outlet.

it wouldn't be free because it would be paid by tax payers. But people would only go if they want help. Someone that thinks they are right in what they are doing won't go to get help

That's the real question, isn't it? This story is still pretty new, and as of yet, we have not heard of a motive. They haven't even said if this man had a past history with this court, like holding a vendetta grudge about a guilty verdict. It could be anything at this point.

I agree. Could be terrorism or psych problems or both

So this whacko fires 40 shots and kills one and injures another. Not a very good marksman. It also indicates to me that this was not planned, and he acted out emotionally.

update
police anounced that the motive is most likely a lost socal security claim filed by the attacker and there is no conection to terrorism. this is still a tarrible event for everyone involved.

well...the news here (local) stated last night that his social security check had been cut, and when he went before a judge, it was dismissed. For some reason (missed this part due to the phone), he claimed it was due to 'racial' reasons...He apparently was unbalanced, as anyone who goes off the deep end and goes into a free for all shooting. Things are REALLY bad here, we're practically the higest unemployment in the country and that is figured just on whose collecting it. Not the ones whom it's expired, or stopped looking. LV gets everything shipped in, everytime I go to the grocery store (1-2x a month) things keep going up a few pennies.
We're also billions deep from loans from the feds. Casinos are closing, lots of foreclosures, thousans of brand new homes stand empty. He went off the deep end, lived in a senior housing project (HUD) and probally they cut would have kicked him out. I seriously wonder if Lv will come back to it's glory days. The casinos are the ones with the $ and it isn't really shared with the community but a small percentage that they get around.

this guy apparently has a criminal history
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100106/ap_on_re_us/us_federal_building_shooting

I suspected the guy, Wicks, had a vendetta or grudge against this LV court, and now that the motive is known, it confirms what I suspected. Yes, it is terrible what he did, but something set Wicks off, and now we know what. I don't condone what he did, but you can see the motive now.