KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasI-Team: Courthouse Shooting Creates Nearby Security Breach
LAS VEGAS - On January 4, 2010, a gunman opened fire at the Lloyd George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas. Two blocks away, a line of people gathered in the lobby of the Regional Justice Center, waiting as they do every day to clear security.
"At the time (the shooting) was happening, we did not realize it was at the federal courthouse," Clark County Courts Security Chief Lt. George Glasper said.
Neither Glasper nor Clark County Courts Spokesman Michael Sommermeyer discussed the events of that day in detail. But, sources tell the I-Team a panicked public, fleeing the sound of gunfire, pushed past the metal detectors at the Regional Justice Center and into the lower level. The security breach was one reason authorities shut down the building. "We took the necessary precautions to protect the public," Glasper said.
On any given Monday morning, Glasper stands elbow to elbow with hundreds of visitors. They comprise a line that more resembles a Black Friday sale than a public building entrance. Marshals will screen some 4,000 to 5,000 people before noon and 9,000 by 5 p.m. The congestion, once considered inconvenient, is now an active security concern. "We're going to redesign this entrance," Sommermeyer said. "This will be more secure. We're going to learn from what we've discovered in the past six or eight months, and we're going to make sure that we improve this entrance."
Court officials say the court shuttered its south entrance in 2009 to comply with a recommendation from the U.S. Marshals Service. Instead of four scanners for the public, the newly re-designed north entrance offers only two with a third reserved for attorneys and jurors. The increase in volume, coupled with a reduction in force, keeps the marshals on constant, exhausting alert. "Obviously, more help would be nice. We're working well with what we've got. We're doing the very best we can," Glasper said.
Security officers confiscate items daily from people who try to test the scanners. "We do have probably 10 percent of the folks who are coming in who are actually trying to smuggle a weapon in to do harm," Glasper said. Few know the "what if" scenarios better than Glasper or the consequences of a compromise to court security. "I think everybody knows we need this, and they're working to make it happen," he said.
A second re-design of the front entrance is under consideration according to the courts, but it will require funding. Until then, a short-term solution to better manage the lines should be in place soon.
8 News Now, through its attorneys, has requested the release of the security video from the day of the federal court shooting. It is the station's position that surveillance video of a public building is a public record.
