Courthouse Chaos: Knife-Wielding Man Killed in Calif. Courtroom
There was chaos at a central California courthouse yesterday afternoon, as a man wielding two knives burst into building and ran into a packed courtroom before officers shot him to death there.
Robert Eaton, 40, who apparently had a history of mental illness and had reportedly previously rammed his car into the same Merced County courthouse a year earlier, may have had a grudge against the judge whose courtroom he ran into, according to the Associated Press.
Among those who witnessed the rampage was Chief Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt. “As soon as he hit the inside doors, I was behind him and I started yelling that he had a knife,” says Nutt , who was talking in the hallway with a colleague when Eaton ran into the building. “The officers started yelling at him, and yelling at everybody else to get down, and at that point it was rather chaotic. People started screaming, people started heading for the door, and I just ran back outside.”
Eaton ran into the courtroom well where, moments earlier, attorneys had been presenting their cases, and was holding a knife aloft in each hand about 30 feet away as Judge Brian McCabe tried to hurry his clerks back into his chambers, AP reports.
Aside from Eaton, who was shot to death after he refused orders to drop his weapons, no one else was physically injured.
The unarmed security guards, metal detectors and x-ray machine at the courthouse entrance were no match for Eaton, who had stolen the car he drove to the scene, reports KFSN, a local ABC News affiliate.
As Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin told the station, “Mr. Eaton is a rather sizable individual, standing at 6’4” and 240 pounds. So he had a full head of steam heading down the hallway with two rather large knives in his hand.”
Additional coverage:
Merced Sun-Star: “Deputy kills man who stormed Merced County Courthouse wielding two knives”
Fresno Bee: “Court deputy fatally shoots knife-wielding man”
