SLOATSBURG, N.Y. (AP) — A man involved in a legal dispute with a woman fired a sawed-off rifle in a courtroom, striking a window several feet above a judge’s head, police said.
Leo Lewis, who is in his 60s, was arrested as he tried to flee the courtroom following Monday night’s shooting, police said.
Lewis was charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.
Shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, Sloatsburg Justice Thomas Newman called the case of the unspecified dispute between Lewis and the unidentified woman to trial. As the trial was about to open, police said, Lewis pulled a .22-caliber sawed-off rifle from an envelope and fired at the woman, who was sitting in the row in front of him.
The round missed her and struck a few feet above where the judge was sitting, police said.
A police officer who was in the courtroom for traffic court fired off a shot, then chased him down and, with the help of a bystander, tackled him, Detective Sgt. John Lynch said.
Details here from the AP via the Reno Gazette-Journal.