Courthouse shooter is tackled by county official, dies at scene
An Iowa man who had been embroiled for years in a property tax dispute with Jackson County officials died Tuesday of a gunshot wound at the conclusion of a government meeting.
Officials said shooting suspect Francis “Gus” Glaser, 71, pulled a gun from a briefcase. He fired once at the property assessor as she left a board of supervisors meeting at the county courthouse, before he was brought down by a supervisor, according to the Associated Press and the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.
It appears no one else was seriously injured in the incident, which took place around 11 a.m. at the Maquoketa building, about 150 miles northeast of Des Moines. Supervisor Larry “Buck” Koos suffered lacerations to his hand and arm when he broke a glass door as he was tackling Glaser, the articles say.
As Koos and other bystanders held Glaser down, a second shot was fired, the city’s chief of police, Brad Koranda, told the newspaper. Koranda said Glaser had the gun in his hand and had his finger on the trigger. But authorities told the Gazette that they didn’t know if the shot was self-inflicted. An investigation is ongoing.
Glaser formerly served as Maquoketa’s city manager.
Nearby school classrooms were locked down after the incident, and the courthouse was closed for the rest of the day.
The courthouse building does not have metal detectors, although security officers use wands to search for weapons before criminal trials.
The Quad City Times also has a story.
