TYLER, Texas (AP) - A man with a high-powered rifle opened fire Thursday in the town square near the courthouse, killing two people and wounding two law officers and one other person, authorities said.
The gunman fled the scene but was shot and later arrested; he was being treated at a hospital.
A Smith County Sheriff's deputy, a Tyler police officer and a civilian were wounded, police spokesman Don Martin said. A man and a woman were killed.
"He had a rifle, and he was shooting at the back of the courthouse and he shot some glass out, shot a deputy sheriff there and two other civilians," said Deputy U.S. Marshal John Walker.
Walker said he believed the gunman was upset about a court case.
Witnesses described a bloody scene after the rampage.
"I saw people lying everywhere that had been shot," Nathan Hoffman, an attorney who works across the street from the courthouse, told the Tyler Morning-Telegraph. Hoffman said he locked the front door of his office and crawled on the floor, urging co-workers to get down.
"We ran to the window and saw him shooting over and over and over again," said Julie Carnahan, a 57-year-old court clerk who was returning from lunch at the time of the shooting. "It was the most horrible things I ever saw."
A spokeswoman at the East Texas Medical Center said one law enforcement officer was in critical condition and another was in good condition. Another man was in fair condition.
Tyler is about 95 miles east of Dallas.
