Gunman Killed After Storming Courthouse

A member of the anti-government sovereign-citizen movement staged what amounted to a one-man assault today on the courthouse in Forsyth County, Georgia, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But Dennis Marx never made it inside. After opening fire from his pickup, he was shot to death by deputies in a shootout that lasted about 90 seconds, reports CNN. One deputy got shot in the leg but will survive. Marx threw some kind of grenades during his assault, along with "spike strips" apparently intended to keep other vehicles from responding. He also had an assault rifle, a gas mask, a bullet-proof vest, and chillingly, flex ties and water. Those last two suggest he intended to take hostages inside the building.

“He came for the purpose of occupying the courthouse,” says Forsyth Sheriff Duane Piper. The sheriff says Marx might have been successful if not for a deputy—the one who got shot—who spotted the gunman as soon as he drove up and engaged him. The situation "was solved (with) that deputy's actions," he says. Marx had been due in court this morning on marijuana and weapons charges, reports WSB-TV. Piper says Marx's home is a "bomb" rigged with booby traps, and it will take some time to clear it. (More Dennis Marx stories.)