A gunman opened fire inside the Tarrant County Courthouse here this
morning, killing two lawyers and wounding three other people.
Several hours later, a man turned himself in to the authorities at a
Dallas television station and said he was responsible.
The man, identified as George Lott, 45 years old,
explained the shooting by saying he was still angry about losing his
child custody case here four years ago.
"It is a horrible, horrible thing I did today,"
The Associated Press quoted Mr. Lott as telling officials at
television station WFAA in Dallas. "I sinned. I am certainly wrong."
He was arraigned early this evening.
The two men killed were Assistant District
Attorney Chris Marshall, 41, and John Edwards, 33. The wounded were
Judge John G. Hill and Judge Clyde Ashworth, both of the state's
appellate court for the Second District, and another assistant
district attorney, Steven Conder, 28.
With the exception of Mr. Edwards, all were shot
in a fourth-floor courtroom where Judge Hill and Judge Ashworth were
conducting a hearing. Mr. Edwards was shot in a nearby stairwell. No
Metal Detectors
The shooting was the sixth violent incident in
courthouses in the nation this year. A spokesman said the Tarrant
County Courthouse was not equipped with metal detectors.
"I don't think there were any particular security
measures taken in this particular building," said Chief Thomas
Windham of the Fort Worth Police Department.
An armed bailiff was on duty in the courtroom,
but he did not return fire.
Judge Tom Vandergriff of Tarrant County
Commissioners Court said that while the county had metal detectors
available on request the appeals court was "an unlikely setting for
what happened today."
"You'd expect it in a criminal court or a family
court but not an appellate court," he said. Sudden Bursts of Fire
Witnesses said the gunman had been sitting
quietly in the spectator area of the courtroom when he suddenly
stood and began firing at the three judges on the bench.
"The shots were echoing all over the building
like it was ricocheting," said Mark Burton, who was waiting for a
friend on the floor below when the shooting began. "It sounded like
fireworks."
Courthouse employees quickly dropped to the
floor, and some locked themselves in their offices.
"I heard big blasts," said Lois Pempsell, a
bookkeeper. "I yelled, 'Get down on the floor behind the cabinets.'
"
After firing, the gunman rushed out of the
courtroom, turned down a stairwell and left the building before the
police arrived.
The two wounded judges remained hospitalized
tonight. Judge Hill, 48, was listed in fair condition with a
shoulder wound; Judge Ashworth, 69, was in serious condition with a
hip wound. Mr. Conder was treated for a superficial chest wound and
released.
In a statement televised on the evening news, Mr.
Lott said he had opened fire to call attention to the lengthy child
custody case here in which his lost custody of his son, Neil. He
said that while he was firing at the bench today he was not aiming
at any particular judge.
Mr. Lott, who lives in the suburb of Arlington,
said that he had a 16-round clip and an extra round in the 9-millimeter
semi-automatic Glock handgun he bought two months ago. He said he
fired those 17 shots before reloading and firing three or four more
times.
He said he then walked down a stairwell, where he
shot Mr. Edwards because the young lawyer was in the way.
Mr. Lott said he then got into a van he had
parked outside the downtown courthouse and drove around for several
hours before driving to Dallas and turning himself in.
Mr. Lott told the television station he was a
lawyer and had also worked in construction.
Speaking of Mr. Lott and his confession, Lieut.
Ralph Swearingin of the Fort Worth Police Department said, "It's
hard to say 100 percent, but at this point, over the last couple of
hours, our investigation has focused on him. His description
obviously fits and his account strongly parallels the factual
situation that occurred today."
Mr. Edwards was a civil trial lawyer for Haynes &
Boone, a law firm specializing in corporate and business law.
Mr. Marshall, who lived in Fort Worth, joined the
district attorney's office in 1979 and was named chief of the
appellate section in 1980. He was married and had an adult daughter.
