http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/01/04/2010-01-04_2_fe...

Law enforcement agents swarm the Lloyd D. George federal courthouse building in downtown Las Vegas after Monday's shooting, which left a court officer dead and a marshal wounded.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/01/04/2010-01-04_2_fe...

A federal court security officer was killed and a U.S. Marshal wounded Monday when a gunman sprayed bullets inside the lobby of a courthouse in downtown Las Vegas.

The man fled across the street in a hail of return gunfire. He was shot in the head and killed.

The large modern building, which also houses the offices of Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, was evacuated amid confused witness accounts of up to three other gunmen.

"We are clearing the entire building at this time," FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey.
It was later determined the gunman was alone.

A Las Vegas resident took a dramatic iPhone video outside the building that captured the sound of a lengthy fusillade of bullets that sounded more like a fireworks show than a gunfight.

"Hell of a morning for jury duty," the cameraman says in a shaky voice. He posted the video to YouTube.

Witness Troy Saceal told CNN he saw part of the wild explosion of gunfire.

"I saw people coming out of the building shooting toward the street. I couldn't see who they were shooting at," he said.

The motive for the 8 a.m. shooting was not immediately known.
"It looks like he went in there and just started unloading, we don't know," Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan told The Associated Press.

Jurors, federal workers and prisoners in handcuffs were hurriedly removed from the building.

The courthouse on the famous Las Vegas Boulevard is home to bankruptcy hearings as well as federal criminal proceedings. The nation's economic woes have hit Las Vegas particularly hard.

The building, which opened in 2004, was one of the first federal buildings designed with new security standards after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.