Gunman, security officer killed in Las Vegas courthouse shooting

The gunman, identified by law enforcement sources as Johnny Lee Wicks, died from gunshot wounds after fleeing across the street as court officers returned fire.

Stanley W. Cooper, a 72-year-old court security officer, was killed in the minutes-long gun battle. Cooper, a policeman for more than a quarter-century, had been a federal security officer since 1994, said Jeff Carter, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman.

A wounded deputy U.S. marshal, 48, was in stable condition at a hospital. His name was not released.





Law enforcement sources said Wicks' failed federal lawsuit -- an erratic document riddled with spelling and grammatical errors -- was a likely motive.

In 2008, Wicks, who had moved from California to a local retirement home, filed a complaint against a regional Social Security Administration commissioner, contending that his monthly benefits had been reduced by $317 because he was black.

"It's all about race," he wrote in the complaint, although he cited no evidence. "I am no fool."

A lawyer for the Social Security Administration responded in court documents that Wicks' payments had been cut because, as a Nevada resident, he was no longer entitled to a supplement he had received while living in California.