Courthouse Sniper Dead After Killing Two Others

MOSCOW, Idaho, May 20 -- A sniper sprayed dozens of bullets at a courthouse, killing a police officer and wounding a sheriff's deputy and a civilian, then apparently killed a caretaker and himself Sunday in a nearby church, police said.

Investigators think the gunman deliberately fired into an emergency dispatch center inside the Latah County Courthouse late Saturday night to lure people into the line of fire. The officer was killed as he rushed to the courthouse, becoming the city's first officer killed in the line of duty. The deputy helped pull him out of the way before being shot, said David Duke, Moscow's assistant chief of police.

Shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday, three SWAT teams entered the First Presbyterian Church in Moscow and found the bodies of the shooter and another man, the church caretaker, Duke said.

An assault rifle, ammunition and spent shells were found next to the gunman's corpse, he said.

The shooter died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Duke said. Police had no information about the gunman's motive.

The gunman started shooting from a parking lot across from the courthouse shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, according to police. A hail of more than 30 bullets ripped through the county's dispatch center, Duke said. Dispatchers were moved to the jail area of the courthouse.

Four empty ammunition magazines were found outside the church.

Duke initially estimated that the gunman fired 75 shots but later said the exact number was not clear.

With the church still a crime scene late Sunday morning, members of the congregation prayed for the shooting victims, including the gunman, at a service in a building on the nearby University of Idaho campus.

Moscow, a community of about 20,000 people, is 80 miles southeast of Spokane, Wash.