An armed man broke into the building that houses the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver early Tuesday and opened fire inside before surrendering to police, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
The incident resulted in “significant and extensive damage” to the building, the agency said in a news release. Authorities don’t believe it’s linked to previous threats made to state Supreme Court justices, the release said.
The ordeal began around 1:15 a.m. local time, when the suspect was involved in a two-vehicle crash and pointed a handgun at the other driver, the news release said. Shortly after, the man shot out a window outside the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, which is where the state Supreme Court, the state Court of Appeals and other legal and judicial agencies operate.
The suspect entered the building and encountered an unarmed security guard, the news release said.
“The individual held the security guard at gunpoint and demanded access to other parts of the building,” the state patrol said. “The individual obtained keys from the security guard and proceeded into other parts of the building and accessed an unknown number of floors.”
Denver police officers and state troopers set up a perimeter. The gunman then went to the seventh floor of the building, where he fired more shots.
“At approximately 3:00 a.m., the suspect called 911 and voluntarily surrendered to police,” the state patrol said. “He was placed in custody without further incident. There are no injuries to building occupants, the suspect, or police personnel.”
The suspect was taken to a local hospital to be examined.
Colorado’s Supreme Court justices have received a flood of threats since they ruled that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s Republican primary ballot as a presidential candidate.
The FBI said last month that it was working to address and investigate the threats, with a spokesperson saying in a statement that the bureau would “pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation.”
The state’s high court, which is composed of seven justices, was closed Tuesday, according to its website.
A spokesperson for the court declined to comment on the incident.
