Chester County Sheriff Praises Deputy's Quick Actions During Courthouse Attack
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Chester County Sheriff Carolyn Bunny Welsh praised the actions of a deputy who shot a killed a suspect, Curtis Smith of Coatesville, after he slashed another deputy and stormed through the security check point at the county courthouse in West Chester.
Welsh told Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that the fast actions of the deputy kept this situation from a tragic escalation of even more violence.
"It was very, very quick and his response was appropriate. It's very tragic. Someone lost their life here yesterday and that is very sad. No one ever wants to see that happen but what the deputy did with his quick action was averted what could've been much, much worse for the other deputy, maybe himself and who knows who else in the building."
She said Curtis, who also jumped over the security fence at the White House earlier this year, had no business to conduct at the courthouse and seemed intent at getting around security.
"He came in, he seemed rushed and he went right for the deputy. I don't think his attempt was to even go through the magnetometer. His attempt was to breach the security."
Welsh also explained that the courthouse went on lock down after the incident to ensure Smith's actions were not part of a larger plot.
"After the situation occurred yesterday, we took every precaution. The deputies cleared each and every floor of the building to be sure that it was only one individual involved, that it wasn't more individuals or a group of individuals. We swept the areas. We had our explosive detection dogs. When an incident occurs, there's an incident but everyone is always concerned very much about a secondary or ancillary incident. It makes you take other protective measures for the building, the people in the building, the citizens, the employees to be sure that this incident was isolated and it wasn't part of a bigger or grander scheme or with more people involved."
