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Johnny Lee Wicks and Stanley Cooper
By Cara McCoy 
Published Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 | 9:58 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 | 5:58 p.m.
Courthouse Shooting News Conference
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Officials outline gunman, Johnny Lee Wicks' criminal history at news conference.
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Neighbors of Gunman React
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Neighbors of Johnny Lee Wicks, 66, are shocked after the lone gunman opened fire in the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse Monday morning. Wicks lived at the Sunrise Senior Village complex at 571 N. 30th St., where a fire broke out about three hours before the shooting.
It was back to business at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse on Tuesday, a day after a disgruntled man and a court security officer died in a hail of gunfire.
The man responsible for the shooting was Johnny Lee Wicks, 66, who officials have said was angry over a legal case involving his Social Security benefits.
But Wicks' “heinous act” at the federal courthouse wasn’t his first brush with the law, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Favreau, of the Las Vegas field office, citing a lengthy criminal record that reaches back several decades.
In 1974, he was convicted in the murder of his brother, Leo Wicks, in Memphis, Tenn., and sentenced in 1976 to 12-15 years for second-degree murder and paroled in 1981, said Dorinda Carter, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Corrections. He picked up various drug charges in that city over the next 10 years.
He was accused of assault to commit rape in Sacramento in 1989, Favreau said. He served jail time after pleading no contest to domestic battery in Sacramento in 1995, court records there show.
Wicks also feuded with managers of a downtown apartment building for seniors and people with disabilities in Fresno, where his handwritten protest of his eviction and a small claims court filing in 1998 included an allegation that he was ousted "Because I am Black."
“Our investigation strongly indicates that Wicks acted alone and that his motive was an overwhelming anger toward the United States government,” Favreau said at a news conference Tuesday in front of the courthouse, which showed visible signs of yesterday’s gun battle. A wooden panel covered a shot-out front window.
Wicks' victims, 72-year-old Stanley Cooper and an unidentified deputy marshal, were taken to University Medical Center, where Cooper later died. The deputy marshal has since been released from the hospital.
As for why Wicks chose Monday to stage his attack, the answer, so far, remains a mystery. Wicks’ case had been dismissed in September. Investigators have found no specific motive as to why Wicks staged his attack Monday.
What investigators do know is that at 5:46 a.m. Monday, Wicks’ apartment at the Sunrise Senior Village complex at 571 N. 30th St., near North Mohave and East Bonanza roads, caught fire. Wicks left the residence and apparently walked the three miles to the courthouse with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun hidden in his jacket.
Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said in a statement that it couldn’t be determined if the fire was intentionally set or if it was caused by careless smoking. The fire damage was confined to a small closet in the bedroom but the odor of smoke wafted throughout the building, he said.
When Wicks arrived at the courthouse, he opened fire as soon as he walked into the building, said Metro Police Lt. Lew Roberts. Three deputy U.S. marshals and four court security officers returned fire and chased him from the building.
Cooper was able to fire one shot and the deputy marshal returned fire, Roberts said. In total, the officers fired 81 rounds at him. Wicks was wounded by a bullet to the stomach and suffered a fatal shot to the head in the exchange.
He died outside the historic Fifth Street School, which is across the street from the courthouse. An autopsy hasn’t yet been completed, Roberts said. The FBI has interviewed dozens of witnesses.
The deputy marshal, identified as a 48-year-old man with 24 years of service, has since been released from the hospital and is recovering, said Gary Orton, U.S. marshal for the District of Nevada. His identity will be released by the marshal’s service once he has a chance to recover, he said.
Roberts said Wicks was armed with the capacity to fire more than five rounds “but due to the quick response by the court personnel, he was not able to do that.”
“When the officers were pursuing (Wicks), he actually turned and faced the officers and fired his last two additional rounds at the officers at the Fifth Street School,” Roberts said. He wouldn’t be specific as to how many bullets Wicks had on him but said it was more than the five he fired.
The shotgun was the only weapon he was armed with, Roberts said.
Evidence of shotgun blasts and return fire was apparent at the buildings near the courthouse, but the area was calm on Tuesday.
Across the street in front of the Fifth Street School, gardeners pruned plants and people sat in the courtyard.
Eight windows were broken on the east side of the school. A tree was shredded with bullets. Blood dotted the leaves of a plant. A paint outline marked the spot where Wicks was fatally wounded.
At the federal courthouse, Southern Nevadans reported for jury duty, for work or to appear in court, as they would have on any other weekday.
Terri Jamison, 56, of Las Vegas, is a data analyst for the civil division at the federal courthouse. Even though she watched the shooting unfold from her fourth-floor office, she said she wasn’t nervous to come in to work today.
“We get checked every time we go in, and we know everyone else is, too,” she said. “That’s why we feel pretty secure.”
Jamison said she ran to her window Monday morning after hearing gunshots outside. She saw police officers run after the suspect and subdue him across the street.
Jamison said she knows the federal courthouse is a place where people often feel tense or disgruntled.
FBI special agent in charge Kevin Favreau speaks at a news conference outside the George Federal Building Tuesday, January 5, 2010 about the previous day's shoot out that killed a court security officer and the gunman and injured a deputy U.S. marshall.
“We’ve had a lot of really volatile cases,” she said.
Elaine Martinez, 64, of Henderson, was reporting for a court summons Tuesday. She said she had been a little apprehensive to come to the courthouse.
“I was just very grateful I wasn’t asked to come on Monday,” she said. “I was kind of hoping they would cancel it [today].”
Lily Buckley, 55, of Pahrump, was reporting for jury duty at the courthouse. It was Buckley’s first day of jury duty.
“I’m not concerned,” she said. “I feel bad for the guard … I’m glad I wasn’t here yesterday.”
Orton wouldn’t specify whether security at the courthouse had been increased in the wake of Monday’s attack but said staff could be rearranged “as necessary to meet the special needs of the courthouse.”
Officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were patrolling outside the building Tuesday morning. The valley’s uniformed law enforcement officers wore black bands across their badges in honor of Cooper.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie said before becoming a court security officer, Cooper had been with Metro Police for 26 years.
“He retired as a sergeant and then moved on to protecting our courts,” Gillespie said. “His death yesterday was truly a tragedy.”
The U.S. Attorney has offices on the fourth and fifth floors of the courthouse. U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden said Cooper would be sadly missed.
“(Cooper was) a dedicated professional. A man who when you walked up to him and spoke with him, he was one of those wonderful people who could touch your life. It’s a shame things had to end for him this way,” he said.
He offered condolences to Cooper’s family, which includes three sons, and said he was praying for the deputy marshal to have a speedy recovery.
Orton said it was the professionalism of Cooper and his fellow officers that kept Monday’s tragedy from being a worse situation.
“While the death of Officer Cooper, a lifelong law enforcement officer here in the valley, is tragic and senseless … I am convinced that if not for the professionalism and sheer determination of our officers and deputy marshals to keep everyone in the courthouse free from harm and danger, this tragedy could have been much worse.”
Gillespie commended the manner in which law enforcement officials from Metro, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and other agencies, including the North Las Vegas Police Department, responded to the attack.
“I want to point out that security officers and law enforcement officers did their jobs well -- they kept everyone inside and outside that courthouse safe and the gunman was not able to access the courtrooms or the judges,” Gillespie said. “I want to reassure the public that the law enforcement community you trust with your safety responded as I expected them to.
Funeral arrangements for Cooper haven’t been announced.
Sun reporter Erin Dostal and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fired 81 rounds,hit hime twice. Great shootin,Tex!
This Wicks fellow was just plain ordinary stupid. He was awarded a SSI check in California of 317 dollars to supplement his Social Security check every month. Once he moved from Californis to Nevada he no longer was a California citizen and not eligible for the 317 dollars. He instead was awarded a lesser amount. The total difference was 88 dollars. He shot and killed a useful person and critically wounded another all for 88 dollars a month. Now that is just plain stupid. I really don't know what drives these people to think that the world owes them a living anyway but I guess we do.
rejco100-
So how did the white people frame Wicks? I want to read your theory. Or are you just being stupid, writing things that make no sense?
I'm glad rejco100 brought up the race card again.
That is always an excellent ice breaker. This country will never get over the race thing and that is unfortunate.
We elected a black man President. I guess that isn't proof that the white and latino race is willing to accept the black man.
People like rejco100 will only be happy when the whole country is black and then he won't have the racist bias to blame.
If the whole country was black it would be another Africa and wouldn't that be just ducky?
I say we should exterminate the rejco100's of this country and we will get along just fine without those kind of malignant people.
First of all.. REJCO SHUT UP !
Secondly, this guy got what he deserved. It's just not right that he was able to place others lives in danger setting his Apt. on fire, and those he killed and injured at the Federal Building lobby.
I don't rejoice in another dead malcontent, That Wicks man was horribly twisted. He took his rage out on an innocent man. I don't feel the least bit good about anything that happened yesterday.
I will say a prayer for both dead man.
"Wicks' past includes an arrest for murder in the 1970s in Memphis. Wicks picked up various drug charges in the 1980s in Memphis and later was arrested in Sacramento on sexual assault and domestic violence charges in 1995. A 1996 arrest in Sacramento was on robbery and domestic violence charges, Favreau said."
The white man must have framed Wicks for all these other crimes too. Wow, the white man has a lot of time on his hands.
Umm, I think those two shots where what actually killed him. At the end of the youtube video, it sounds like the Marshalls let off half of those rounds in his back after they caught up with him.
Firing a handgun accurately at a moving target 50-100 yards away is extremely difficult. Not exactly the distance handguns are made for. Anybody with handgun experience will agree with this.
liberals are the reason this guy was walking the streets. you liberals have to stop with the "hugging and caring" attitude when it comes to crime and put these people to death.
if you vote democrat, you have that officer's blood on your hands.
also, as someone that has been shooting guns since i was 5 years old, even a STILL target...even a few feet away, is VERY hard to hit with a handgun, much less a moving one. ain't like the movies, folks. every time you fire, you need at least a second to re-aim and pull the trigger.
Security in these buildings need automatic rifles. Someday they are going to run into a few crazies with automatic AK-47s who are hell bent on destruction.
Hate the government, hate the courts, these dittoheads are a plague on our society. Hate talk radio yesterday evening continued with the anti-government theme.
Why are you shooting something that is 100 yards away,anyways? They are lucky no bystanders got hit.
stevem writes:
"if you vote democrat, you have that officer's blood on your hands."
+++++
Shut up! A tragedy has happened, a US marshal is dead, one injured and it is very fortunate indeed that more are not dead (aside from Wicks) and hurt. Yet you use this situation as an opportunity to bash people with different politics than you. This Wicks was nothing more than a deranged criminal that was probably mentally ill, too.
81 shots, two hits.
In the interest of public safety, it might well be time to issue blanks to law enforcement officers until firearms training is re-introduced in the Police Academy and Federal LE training programs.
Steve - if you can't hit a STILL target a few feet away with a handgun... stop handling guns or get more target practice.
ya, yoo dum libruls... hey stevem, really, is this an act you put on, because I honestly don't believe God made anyone as ignorant, single-minded & dimwitted as your posts would indicate that you are.
As for the number of bullets flyin', man, you get that adrenaline & testosterone flowin' and look OUT! SWISS CHEESE, BABY! Everybody fire until your weapon is empty, then reload!
Andy even let Barny shoot his bullet.
May the deceased Lawmen R.I.P. They gave all.
Sooooo, as a general rule of thumb you'll only be 50% as good with your weapon in a gunfight as your best day on the range. That means that on their best day at the range it would have still taken the cops 40 shots to take out the bad guy!
81 shots, two hits = .024%
Sounds like these guys need more training than their required annual range qualification time.
That's 79 rounds flying around town punching holes in something other than the bad guy but luckily not an innocent bystander.
Good Lord it's sad to see how such an incredible tragedy can evoke such ridiculously stupid,ignorant, inane and off-the-wall comments, and accusations of some sort of bigger, yet unfounded and unproven, conspiracy. Recognize it for what it is: A tragic ending to a tortured soul's life, who needlessly and wantonly took the life of an innocent and good member of society, and injured another. No gloss, no glitter, no bogeyman hiding in the shadows. A tragedy.
Anti-government dittohead, unstable married life and sudstace abuse.
Let's see, married and divorced three times? pain pill addiction? hates government?
This guy should have gone into talk radio.
5 years for murder, attempted rape, drugs, numerous other charges. This little crime spree is finally over. Seems he wanted the Government to provide everything. Now another murder. He was no good. No need to cry over the fact that the police bullets "might have hit an innocent bystander". They didn't. Metro did a fine job on this one.
This guy should never have been out on the streets. With a murder conviction and several drug convictions, this guy should have been put away for life. What a waste of lives and tax payer's money.
S711
the simple fact is that liberals are soft on crime. over and over and over again we see people JUST LIKE THIS guy with criminal records that should not have been walking the streets that end up killing people.
then when it DOES happen...because it ALWAYS happens and you get called on it you get dodge the issue and say "this isn't the time or place."
i think it's EXACTLY the time and place.
and actually, hitting a moving target with a handgun is actually pretty hard. i'd challenge any of you bleeding hearts to hit rush limbaugh as big as he is with a bullet from 20 feet away if he was moving. then even if you DO hit him, the chances of it being a "kill shot" and dropping him is even more remote.
police and military spend hours and hours learning to use a handgun and they continue to practice years and years into their careers.
You have an armed man opening fire without notice and moving around trying to get past security. You have security that is NOT running around because they have to stand their ground to PREVENT the armed suspect from getting past them. Suspect carries a shotgun, security armed with sidearms. Anyone who actually SHOT a weapon knows the longer the barrel, the more accurate the shot. Throw in that the suspect was moving and security was standing their ground, and you can see why his shots might have been more accurate.
As for those claiming it's the "liberal Democrats" fault there are so many shootings, keep in mind it was REPUBLICAN governor Huckabee of Arkansas who granted clemency to the Clemmons character who ended up shooting 4 cops dead in Seattle.
The only "politics" involved here is whatever you dream up in your petty little heads.
My prayers go out to all men and women in uniform, and to those who gave the ultimate price.
murdered his own brother.. rape..hello! mental illness workup anyone?
The Wicks case against Social Security was adjudicated in Sept. He chose Monday to do this deed because he would attract attention wearing a coat long enough to conceal a shotgun in the hot weather. As far as missing 79 times out of 81 shots fired, I don't believe that, I bet it was closer to 40 hits, all in the back. Why not? Give that scummy turd exactly what he deserved.
Watch for a long lost relative to emerge and sue the government for killing that toenail.
Stevem,
On the issue of crime I am going to give you an AMEN. Normally I can't stand what you write, but these dirtbags need to go away for a long time. You can raise the sales tax to 20% if it means all violent crime offenders will spend 20+ years in jail(my wife got robbed at gun point and the POS got 6). I got your back on this one. I am fairly moderate, but on crime--- gas em, lock em up, and keep them the heeeeeeeeeelll away from my family................ even you:)
I wish I was a religious man so I could take some comfort in knowing this disgusting waste of skin will gnash his teeth in a firey lake of hell for eterity.
Calthompian, rejco is just bating you. Pretty sure he is a old grumpy white guy.
Rejco only has two posts ever displayed on any article. They are:
1. comment removed by staff
2. something about 12 steps
That's it; it is funny to read it sometimes because it has no relation to the topic. He is only a stones throw from this wack-job because he has nothing but derogatory things to say about government agencies in general. If his posts were longer than one sentence I wouldn't read them, but a chimp on acid can do it on accident.
This was a very tragic event. My heart goes out to the Security Officer's family.
This ex-offender's caseworker should have been cognizant of his possible violent outburst.
Many of these social workers are over worked, their case loads have too many cases.
We as a society have to examine the multitude of causes which brought this violent murderer to kill and be killed.
This tragedy might have been prevented, if social case workers could have spotted the warning signs.
The courthouse should have had better security.
If visitors would have to go through double doors(a visitor walks through a door,that has a metal detector, if he/she is safe then allowed to go through the next door).
The security has to be reorganized. If changes do
occur, then courthouse visitors and employees will be safer.
Violent Criminals should be locked up.
Sex offenders should be locked up as well.
The problem with our prison system is we have a lot of prisoners in the system for minor drug charges. The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world. Our system is broken, and is not getting reformed.
When parolees get released, they are not being assimilated in to our society. They can't find jobs, because of lack of education or training.
So we have a very high recividism rate. Parolees going back to prison.
Many cons return to prison as violent criminals,when the first time was a non-violent drug charge.
We must stop locking people up for minor drug charges. These offenders need drug rehab, not jail. This also goes for alcohol related crimes.
To operate prisons, we have to fund them through property and sales taxes. Our taxes will go up if we continue with this broken system.
When a system is broken, social planners have to make adjustments. The population is aging, and less prone to crime.
This bad man(Wickes) was an exception to the rule.
mred, Last I heard, Rush never killed anyone, or even suggested it to listeners. As far as the 3 marriages. He's only got 5 more to go to catch up with Larry King.
Just glad this wickes gyy will not be victimizing any more people.
I can only hope that the rest of 2010 is far better for law enforcement safety in L.V. than 2009 and the first few days of 2010. 5 Metro losses in less than a year is 5 too many. (I consider retired officer Cooper to still be Metro family and deserving of the same full honors as other lost officers). God bless the Cooper family.
Wonder if his brother was white when he shot vand killed him.....
"Rejco only has two posts ever displayed on any article. They are:
1. comment removed by staff
2. something about 12 steps"
Good post Travis .. you gave me a good laugh this morning!
This was not a Metro involved shooting. Will everyone please read the article.
It was a retired metro involved shooting....
Icare2009, My comment was pointing to the fact that the victim was RETIRED METRO. I never referred to it as "Metro involved shooting". Retirees are generally still regarded as members of the family.
Just glad that wickes cannot victimize any more people.
Sounds like Johnny Lee Crackhead was ready to die.
Bye
Thanks ACLU (American Criminal Lovers Union). He should have been caged for the rest of his life after killing his brother, he did a whole 6 years. What a joke our system is
I would have let him bleed out and whispered sweet nothings to him as he breathed his last breath