Gunman Killed, 4 Injured In Courthouse Shooting

All of the people who were shot had injuries that were not life-threatening.

onSeptember 20, 2018 at 3:29 PMSeptember 20, 2018 at 2:57 PM

The courtroom was very, very crowded. There were hundreds of people in there waiting to be serviced at 1 o’clock, and it was just a chaotic situation from the very beginning. Someone opened the door, and I had been on the floor, and we flew into the room and took cover in one of the offices. People were yelling, they were crying and they were very, very upset. Some people were injured, lost their shoes, lost their purses – they were just running for their lives.

— Dr. Joyce Royster, commenting on what she witnessed during yesterday’s shooting at the magisterial courthouse in Masontown, Pennsylvania. Patrick S. Dowdell, the gunman, was at the building for a preliminary hearing for domestic violence-related charges when he opened fire. “You’re never going to stop everything, but the problem is that a person can walk into any of these district judge’s courtrooms,” said Fayette County DA Rich Bower.

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.