Jury says authorities justified in killing gunman in furious courthouse gunbattle in Las Vegas

Jury: Killing of Vegas courthouse gunman justified

LAS VEGAS — A coroner’s jury cleared federal agents Friday in the slaying of a shotgun-wielding assailant seen on video killing a security guard during a furious gunbattle at a Nevada federal courthouse.

In the Jan. 4 security footage shown in court, gunman Johnny Lee Wicks was seen in silent black-and-white profile against the light of glass entry doors pulling a 12-gauge shotgun from beneath his dark coat and firing three times.

Veteran court security guard Stanley Cooper, 72, hunched over after the first shot and died a short time later.

Authorities believe Wicks, 66, was angry about losing a lawsuit filed after his Social Security benefits were cut. He previously served prison time in the 1974 shotgun slaying of his brother in Memphis, Tenn.

The video, screened publicly for the first time during the hearing, showed Wicks opening fire in front of a security screening station just inside the courthouse. Another security officer returned fire, and a tall window next to the doors turned opaque as it broke but remained in place.

Wicks retreated just outside the courthouse then poked his head and the barrel of the shotgun around a corner several times.

“Every time he peeks out, the security officer was firing,” Las Vegas police Detective Dean Raetz testified as he described the chaotic scene for the jury.

Seven deputy U.S. marshals and security guards shot at Wicks as he retreated from the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse then reloaded and kept firing.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Gardner, 48, was wounded in the head and face by a blast of birdshot pellets. He later recovered.

Wicks died in the desert landscaping of a historic schoolhouse across Las Vegas Boulevard from the federal building.

Raetz testified that Wicks fired five times, and marshals and guards retaliated with 85 shots, striking Wicks 14 times in his heart, lungs, neck, back and legs.

Wicks died with one empty shotgun shell and one live round still in the gun. Another was on the ground, and 16 more were in a pack around his waist.

Wicks had filed a handwritten lawsuit challenging the cut in his Social Security benefits after he moved from California to Nevada. Wicks alleged he was discriminated against because he was black.

The case was dismissed in September.

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

Friday’s inquest was a fact-finding proceeding that did not involve cross-examination of witnesses. After a presentation by prosecutors, the seven-person jury was asked to decide if the use of lethal force against Wicks was justified, excusable or criminal.

“I think we all agreed the officers acted in the best interest of the public safety,” said the forewoman, Maureen Flanagan. The four men and three women viewed the video, listened to a 911 call and heard from 10 witnesses. Deliberations took less than an hour.

Gary Orton, U.S. marshal for Nevada, said colleagues were still grieving about the death of Cooper, a retired Las Vegas police sergeant who became a court security officer in 1994.

“He was the person on the front line who paid the ultimate price for the protection of the public,” Orton said.

No one from Wicks’ family attended the inquest, and a telephone message left for a relative in Memphis was not immediately returned.

Wicks’ son, Richard Earl Nelson, 37, was arrested Jan. 27 in Tennessee after he was accused of making death threats against a Memphis federal pretrial services officer supervising his conduct while he awaits trial on a federal weapons charge.

Nelson’s aunt, Elaine Osborne, has said she doubted her nephew was angry about his father’s death. She said most of the family lost contact with Wicks years ago.