Posted on 06/21/2005 12:22:53 PM PDT by familyop
SEATTLE -- A man carrying an unusable hand grenade and a sheaf of papers including a "living will" was fatally shot by police Monday in the lobby of the downtown federal courthouse, authorities said.
The Seattle man, born in 1952, had often expressed "a disdain for the federal government as well as some of its policies," U.S. Marshal Eric Robertson said, and often frequented the courthouse as well as the federal office building.
Police could not tell that the grenade was inert as the man held it in his hand, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said.
Several news organizations identified the man late Monday night as Perry Manley. KING-TV, which aired an interview with the man's ex-wife, described him as an outspoken critic of the court system who had e-mailed the television station recently, protesting the child support system and alleging that millions of noncustodial parents were being impoverished by the government.
Ex-wife Susan Calhoun said Manley grew bitter and quit a high-paying job when, after their 1990 divorce, a court ordered him to make child support payments for their three children. The children are now grown and those payments were no longer required, the television station reported.
"It was really about the money," she told KING. " 'Don't tell me what to do with my money.' "
The station also reported the man was under investigation by the FBI for threats against U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly, who had denied the man's requests to bring a state case to the federal level.
Pending a King County medical examiner's report, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said Monday night, "We wouldn't be able to say anything about his identity or background or history."
The medical examiner's office said it would not identify the man until Tuesday.
The investigation led police and federal agents to a Seattle apartment building Monday evening, but Burroughs refused to say whether it was the man's residence.
The man arrived at the courthouse shortly before noon Monday, wearing camouflage and with a backpack that he later strapped to his chest. Witnesses said he tried to skirt security and began shouting threats, police spokeswoman Christie-Lynne Bonner said.
The papers he was carrying included a "living will," indicating that he might have expected police to shoot him, Kerlikowske said. The backpack also contained a cutting board, which the man may have intended to use as a protective device, Kerlikowske said.
Inside the lobby, a security officer saw the man take the grenade out of his backpack, then walk across a ledge next to a pool that blocks public access to a secured area, Robertson said.
Hundreds of judges, jurors, employees and prisoners in the building were evacuated. Streets surrounding the building also were cordoned off as dozens of police cars responded, jamming noontime traffic.
Meanwhile, security officers tried talking to the man, but he refused to put the grenade down.
Seattle police were called and after about 25 minutes of negotiations, "the man made a furtive movement," Robertson said. "At that point the officers had no choice but to stop that threat."
An officer with a .223-caliber rifle and another with a shotgun each fired once at the man, who fell to the floor still holding the grenade. "It was very clear, immediately after the shots, that the individual was deceased," Robertson said.
Bomb squad members determined the grenade had been drilled out and was inactive. The man's body was removed several hours later, the police chief said.
Robertson said the man also had some court documents, although he didn't describe those papers in detail. But the man had filed complaints with the courts before, and was known to be dissatisfied with the federal government in general.
"I believe it's more of a global government frustration," Robertson said.
Kerlikowske said the two veteran officers who fired the shots were placed on paid administrative leave. They were not immediately identified.
Chay Adams, 27, of Seattle, said she saw police shoot the man.
She was leaving the U.S. Marshals office on the ninth floor where her father is a deputy marshal. "There were a bunch of marshals running toward me with bulletproof vests and weapons ... saying it would be in my best interest to leave," she said.
Adams and about eight other women were evacuated to the fifth floor, where she said she could see down into the atrium lobby. She saw police confront the man, who had been sitting on a bench with a yellow backpack strapped to his chest.
He was nervous and kept clasping his hands, she said, but there was nothing unusual about him.
"If they wouldn't have known what happened, you wouldn't have paid any attention to him," Adams said.
She watched the man for a few minutes, then heard two shots.
"With one shot, the man slumped over, and with the second shot, he slumped all the way over and his head ended up in his lap," Adams said.
Kim Kingsborough told Northwest Cable News she saw the man in the lobby before the standoff occurred.
"He just stood around for the longest time in the lobby, looking around," she said, then he tried to sneak by the pool.
As officers approached him, Kingsborough said, the man shouted: "Don't come near me!"
The new federal courthouse opened last August. Many of the major security features of the $171 million high-rise at Seventh Avenue and Stewart Street are disguised. Even glass walls that permit ample sunlight are blast-resistant.
The new courthouse houses the U.S. Marshals Service, judges, support staff and court clerks, as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office, bankruptcy courts, and probation and pretrial services.
It holds 13 district courtrooms, five bankruptcy courtrooms, and 22 suites for judges and their staff. Secure hallways lead from cell blocks into the courtrooms, so prisoners don't contact the public - unlike in the old building.
Well, the cops have killed yet another mentally ill but harmless old kook, who was IN FACT unarmed. ANY world war II-style "grenade" you see now is a toy...all live ones are smooth and round.
I'm not blaming the police on the grenade issue. I was commenting on how incompetent the journalists are to do hard news. They should research each story before writing it--even if the story involves things more often known about by men.
So... are you also among those who blame the cops because another mentally ill but harmless old kook stepped in front of a train outside of Safeco Field Saturday night?
Just curious.
Thank you for this utterly useless, stupid comment.
Suicide by cop.
Sorry I misunderstood. Although frankly I read a lot of news reports and I can't really see anything that looks "incompetent" in this story.
If you want incompetence, I think I can point you to dozens of better examples every day.
"KING-TV, which aired an interview with the man's ex-wife, described him as an outspoken critic of the court system who had e-mailed the television station recently, protesting the child support system and alleging that millions of noncustodial parents were being impoverished by the government."
He was 100% dead on target on this.
I wouldn't bet my life on that "fact." Left over WWII grenades could still be functional, and there are foreign governments that also could be the source of grenades like that today.
Shhhh!!! Don't you know that "real" conservatives don't believe in taking personal responsibility for their actions? You must be a Bushbot!!!
(laugh) Moi?
I took that part of the article to mean that his responsibilities for paying were finished (and he was no longer paying, but was still hacked off about having had to pay).
What a loser. Refuses to pay child support. Deliberately loses numerous jobs. It was all about him.
Perhaps. But was it worth his life?
And, of course, the man was committing suicide by cop, as others have pointed out here.
How about "Don't wear a cutting board to a shoot out?"
Bottom line: take a grenade into a federal building and you're probably not going to be eating fish sticks at home tonight.
Yep. "No fish for you!", to paraphrase the Soup Nazi.
Sadly, a good question. Can't wait for the worshippers of St. Randy Weaver to show up to defend him and start slinging around keywords like 'JBT' and 'donutwatch'.
Some are, but how do you know his situation? Was he being screwed over by a lazy, vindictive wife, like the recent one in Wisconsin? Or did he marry her right out of high school, convince her not to go to college and just raise kids, then cheat and beat her? We don't know, so we don't know if the payments were just or unjust.
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