Coroner’s jury sees video, hears accounts of furious gunbattle at Las Vegas federal building

Video of federal building gunbattle shown to jury

LAS VEGAS — An inquest jury in Nevada viewed graphic video Friday showing a shotgun-wielding assailant opening fire inside a federal courthouse and mortally wounding a security guard in what prosecutors called an angry rampage against the government.

In the Jan. 4 security footage, gunman Johnny Lee Wicks was first seen in silent black-and-white profile against the light of glass entry doors. He pulled a long-barrel, 12-gauge shotgun from beneath his lengthy coat and fired three times before retreating just outside the building.

Court security guard Stanley Cooper, 72, hunched over after the first shot. He died a short time later.

Another security officer returned fire, and a tall window turned opaque as it broke but remained in place.

During the furious gunbattle, Wicks poked his head and the barrel of the shotgun around a courthouse wall several times.

“Every time he peeks out, the security officer was firing,” Las Vegas police Detective Dean Raetz testified in monotone as he followed the action on the video. “It was a pretty chaotic scene.”

Seven deputy U.S. marshals and security guards finally forced Wicks away from the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse. Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Gardner, 48, was wounded in the head and face by a blast of birdshot pellets and later recovered.

Testimony showed Wicks fired five times, and marshals and guards retaliated with 85 shots, striking the gunman 14 times in his heart, lungs, neck and other areas.

The 66-year-old Wicks died in the desert landscaping of a historic schoolhouse across Las Vegas Boulevard. He had one empty shotgun shell and one live round still in the gun. Another was on the ground and 16 more in a pack around his waist.

Court records showed Wicks, an ex-convict from Memphis, was angry after losing a lawsuit challenging a cut in his Social Security benefits following a move from California to Nevada.

Raetz said Wicks set fire to his apartment in North Las Vegas about three hours before the downtown shooting.

The inquest is a fact-finding presentation that does not involve cross-examination of witnesses. After the presentation by prosecutors, the jury of seven people will decide whether the use of lethal force against Wicks was justified, excusable or criminal.

No one from Wicks’ family attended the inquest.

Prosecutor Christopher Laurent said he believed earlier tallies of 81 shots fired by authorities failed to account for shots through the window of the courthouse rotunda.