Court Security
Man disarmed deputy, committed suicide in courthouse, authorities say
A defendant in a Louisiana courthouse for a status hearing on Tuesday got into a scuffle with deputies, disarmed one and apparently shot himself to death.
The shooting occurred at about 2 p.m. at the Morehouse Parish Courthouse in Bastrop, a state police spokesman and Sheriff Mike Tubbs told KNOE.
It isn’t clear whether Keith Atkins died at the courthouse, but he is now deceased. Neither deputy was injured in the incident, said state police spokesman Michael Reichardt.
An unidentified court official told the station that Atkins had been facing kidnapping and methamphetamine possession charges and had been ordered to have a psychiatric evaluation.
