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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Texas Courthouse Shooting|Suspect Had Sued City

HOUSTON (CN) - The man accused of killing an elderly woman and wounding three people in a courthouse shooting Wednesday had filed two pro se civil complaints against Houston police and the City of Beaumont, three days apart in 2010, according to the Courthouse News database.

Bartholomew Granger, 41, started shooting around 11 a.m. Wednesday outside the Jefferson County Courthouse, officials said. Beaumont, east of Houston, is the seat of Jefferson County.

Granger had been on trial at the courthouse since Monday, Judge John Stevens told KFDM, a CBS affiliate in Beaumont. He was being tried on charges of sexually assaulting a minor family member, according to wire reports. His alleged victim took the stand Tuesday, and testimony was supposed to resume Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities told CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston that Granger was hospitalized for injuries he suffered during the incident, then sent to county jail.

The family member was one of Granger's shooting victims and she is hospitalized in critical condition, KHOU reported. Texas media reported that that victim was Granger's daughter, whom he allegedly shot and then ran over with his pickup truck.

Granger shot an elderly woman near the courthouse steps and she died at the scene, KFDM reported.

Bartholomew Granger filed two pro se civil rights complaints, three days apart, against the Houston Police Department, Jefferson County, and the City of Beaumont, in July 2010, according to the Courthouse News database.

Both complaints alleged "the unlawful pursuit of incriminating my whole family based on a lie," and sought damages of "$250,000,000 million dollars" (sic).

Plaintiffs in both cases were Bartholomew Granger Sr. and Jr., and Lyndon Granger.

Both were filed in Houston Federal Court. A judge dismissed at least one of them last year, according to The Associated Press.

In the chaos on Wednesday, police fired several shots at Granger as he fled in his pickup truck, Beaumont Police Chief Jimmy Singletary told several news outlets.

Granger then ran into the Richard Construction building, where he took at least four people hostage, Texas media reported. At one point, Granger called police, said he was hurt and offered to surrender for medical assistance, media reported.

Chief Singletary told reporters that Richard Construction employees took Granger's gun, and police then arrested him.

A county employee told ABC News the victims were not courthouse employees.

Neither the courthouse nor the Beaumont Police Department responded to calls for comment from Courthouse News.

After the shootings, the courthouse was evacuated and the nearby streets were locked down.

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