ED GARSTEN
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) -- A federal protective services guard was fatally shot Friday at a security checkpoint in the office building housing the FBI, and the suspected gunman was shot and wounded, authorities said.
The gunman, who was carrying a bag, entered the lobby of the McNamara Federal Building and was asked by a guard what was inside, FBI spokeswoman Dawn Clenney said.
The man then reached in the bag, produced a handgun and fired a shot, she said.
The gunman's condition was not immediately known.
A witness, Joel Vander Linden of Warren, said he was waiting in line at the metal detectors at the building when he heard a man behind him ``complaining loudly ... cussing.''
Vander Linden said as he going to the elevators, he heard a ``boom,'' but was rushed out the door before he could see anything else.
Another witness, Henry Verner, said he heard three or four shots and people yelling.
``There was a lot of unrest and people were scurrying to protect themselves,'' he said. He said he later saw someone lying on the floor who was shot, but couldn't describe the person.
The agent was taken by ambulance to Detroit Receiving Hospital.
A second man, apparently the shooting suspect, was taken out of the building on a stretcher with his neck in a brace and a pile of bandages on his abdomen.
An ambulance left under police escort to an undisclosed hospital. The area was cordoned off with police tape.
The shooting occurred two blocks from the federal courthouse where a hearing was held earlier in the day for three men arrested in Detroit during the FBI investigation of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A U.S. magistrate ordered the three detained, saying they presented a flight risk.
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