Wicks died on Monday at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, after being shot and killed by court officers who returned fire in a shootout Wicks began. Stanley W. Cooper, a 72-year-old court security officer for more than a quarter-century, was killed in the minutes-long gun battle. A wounded deputy U.S. marshal, 48, was in stable condition at a hospital and his name was not released.
Friends and family say Wicks was so despondent over the decision to reduce his Social Security stipend, that he sued the administration in 2008, believing he was the victim of racial discrimination. The case was thrown out in 2009 and Wicks reportedly lost all hope and sanity. In a fit of rage, Wicks set fire to his condo on Monday, apparently knowing he’d never return. Then he headed for the courthouse where he opened fire just as it was opening for the day and jurors were filing into the building. “It sounded like a fireworks show,” said eyewitness Jon McGovern, who estimated that he heard at least 30 to 40 exchanges of shots. McGovern told the paper that after the shooting groups of people were running away from the courthouse screaming, “Get down, get shelter.” Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan told the Associated Press that the gunman had been shot in the head and apprehended outside near the federal building. “It looks like he went in there and just started unloading, we don’t know,” Morgan said.
So, it appears financial hard times and lost hope for an elder, created a sad and tragic ending to the life of a despondent senior citizen and the fellow senior citizen he killed.
