Bailiffs kill courthouse shooter

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Bailiffs shot and killed a man who opened fire in the lobby of a downtown courthouse Wednesday afternoon, sheriff’s officials said.

One of the two bailiffs who fired at the unidentified man suffered a non-life-threatening shoulder wound, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Bordner said. At least four other people were in the lobby at the time but no one else was hurt, Bordner said.

The gunman entered the courthouse shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday and approached a security checkpoint wearing a backpack. A deputy ordered him to remove the backpack and place it on a conveyor belt, but the man instead threw it on the ground and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun, Bordner said.

Deputies B.J. Lyons and Marvin Glover returned fire, fatally wounding the man, who died later at a St. Petersburg hospital. Lyons, 58, who suffered the shoulder wound, was released from the hospital by late afternoon.