Safety committee to provide security recommendations for Fayette County Courthouse
Photo courtesy of Uniontown Police Department
Uniontown police provided this photo of Judge Linda Cordaro’s chair, which was struck by a stray bullet while she was sitting in it in her chambers on June 22. The bullet came through a window at the Fayette County Courthouse, ricochetted off a law book and then struck a wooden brace before falling into the backing of the chair. Cordaro was not injured in the incident.
Mike Jones
A stray bullet fired in a Uniontown neighborhood June 22 struck the Fayette County Courthouse and got lodged in the back of Judge Linda Cordaro’s chair where she was sitting in her chambers, although she was uninjured in the incident.
The Fayette County commissioners are awaiting recommendations for possible security upgrades at the courthouse in Uniontown after an errant bullet crashed through a window and struck a judge’s chair while she was sitting in her chambers last month.
Commission Chairman Dave Lohr said they’re expecting a report from the courthouse’s “safety committee” soon for what security changes should be made to the building in the aftermath of the June 22 incident in which a stray bullet lodged in back of Judge Linda Cordaro’s chair.
Cordaro was not injured in the incident, but Lohr said the safety committee met afterward to begin discussing security options before presenting their recommendations to the commissioners in the fall to be considered for inclusion in the county’s 2024 budget.
“The commissioners haven’t sat down (to discuss) that, but it was deemed as a random accident,” Lohr said. “We’re still concerned, because naturally it could always turn into something more than an accident, and it’s something we’ve discussed.”
Uniontown police previously said a person fired five to seven gunshots in the 60 block of Lincoln Street, with and one bullet traveling more than 500 feet into a upstairs window in the courthouse before it then ricocheted off a law book and struck a wooden brace inside the judge’s chair. Investigators recovered the slug in the back of the chair.
Although Uniontown police initially said they took a 14-year-old boy into custody as a person of interest, he was not charged and no one has been arrested in connection with the incident as of Tuesday.
Lohr said the safety committee consists of various courthouse and sheriff’s department officials in charge of keeping the judicial complex and magistrate offices safe. A phone message to Sheriff James Custer was not returned Tuesday, while Court Administrator Karen Kuhn said she would need to discuss the matter with President Judge Steve Leskinen before issuing a comment.
“It’s a good variety of people and they come back with recommendations and then we try to fit it in the budget and make things safer,” Lohr said of the safety committee, which meets quarterly. “Our whole goal is to make things safe. We’re just waiting for them to come back and give us some ideas.”
What those security upgrades could be are unknown due to the unusual circumstances of the shooting, which officials considered to be a freak occurrence. However, Lohr reiterated his idea of possibly applying ballistic film across the exterior windows to better protect them.
“That will probably be on the front burner,” Lohr said.
Security has been on the front burner for area counties following the September 2018 shooting at District Judge Daniel Shimshock’s office in Masontown when a gunman chased his estranged wife into the building and fired multiple shots. Police officers who were at the magistrate’s office for court returned fire, killing 61-year-old Patrick Shaun Dowdell. One police officer and several bystanders were injured in the incident.
That situation prompted security upgrades at the magistrate offices in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties without constable or other county-level security guards helping to protect those locations.
Greene County Sheriff Marcus Simms said they were able to use COVID relief funds during the pandemic to help bolster security at their three magistrate offices with courthouse security guards under his department. He said the incident at the Fayette County Courthouse didn’t necessitate a review of security at their own courthouse, but indicated they regularly evaluate the situation as a whole when issues arise locally.
“We’re constantly looking to upgrade things with our security, but nothing specific to that,” Simms said.
Meanwhile, Washington County Court Administrator Patrick Grimm said they began focusing on improving security at all of the magistrates with the help of new high-tech equipment and constables stationed at every building. The county is now looking to move to hiring a security contractor to provide security at all the offices after the commissioners approved a request for bids at their May meeting, although it hasn’t been advertised yet.
“We’re looking for consistency, and there aren’t many constables in Washington County, if you look, especially who are armed and willing to go to the offices full-time,” Grimm said.