Vegas Strip procession, law enforcement honors set for slain federal court officer’s funeral

Vegas procession, honors set for officer’s funeral

HENDERSON, Nev. — A Las Vegas Strip procession and color guard honors were planned Monday for the funeral of the veteran court security officer who was killed in a shootout with a shotgun-wielding assailant at a downtown federal building.

A Southern Nevada Multi-Agency Law Enforcement honor guard was scheduled to serve at the afternoon funeral for Stanley Cooper, 72, a retired Las Vegas police sergeant who served as a security officer for 15 years. U.S. Marshals Service Director John F. Clark and some 2,000 family members, friends, elected officials, judges, and law enforcers were expected to attend the service at Central Christian Church in Henderson.

Cooper was the senior court security officer at the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, where he worked for 15 years for Akal Security Inc. He previously had served 26 years as a Las Vegas police officer.

“All he ever did was serve,” said his employer, Daya Singh Khalsa, of Espanola, N.M. Khalsa said Cooper was the only Akal employee ever killed in the line of duty.

Cooper was mortally wounded by a shotgun blast fired Jan. 4 by a disgruntled Social Security recipient at the entrance to the federal building.

Authorities identified the gunman as Johnny Lee Wicks, a 66-year-old ex-convict originally from Memphis, Tenn. The FBI said he set fire to his Las Vegas apartment and walked three miles to the federal building before pulling a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun from beneath his black trench coat and opening fire.

Richard Gardner, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Marshals Service, was wounded before the assailant was killed in front of a historic schoolhouse that has been converted to offices across Las Vegas Boulevard.

Gardner, 48, was treated at University Medical Center and released the next day.

Wicks fired five times. Cooper was among seven court officers and U.S. marshals who the FBI said fired 81 shots in return.

Wicks was hit in the stomach and died from a gunshot wound to the head fired by one of his pursuers, authorities said.

Court records and former neighbors say Wicks believed he was discriminated against because he was black, and he was upset with the government because his $974 monthly Social Security benefit was cut to $688 after he moved from California to Las Vegas.