A man who allegedly scaled a White House perimeter wall in March was shot and killed today after slashing a sheriff’s deputy inside a Pennsylvania courthouse, CNN reports.
Authorities say 34-year-old Curtis Smith ran past metal detectors at Chester County Justice Center just before noon on Tuesday and began attacking a sheriff’s deputy with a knife. Another deputy then opened fire on Smith, killing him. From WCAU:
Smith was set to face burglary, assault and harassment charges at a preliminary hearing—that has been continued multiple times—in October stemming from a May domestic assault arrest, according to court records. He also pleaded guilty in late May to traffic violations.
Attorney Lewis Hannah III, who represented Smith in the domestic violence case, called his client’s death “really tragic.”
“He was a truck driver,” Hannah said. “He worked every day, had a family, a wife, you know, you would have never have thought.”
Hannah said his client was supposed to obtain counseling before the next hearing and that’s why Smith went to the courthouse Tuesday. “He had no terrorist claim or anything like that,” he said.
Earlier this year, Smith was charged with unlawful entry after police say he climbed a stone perimeter wall near the White House. According to The Washington Post, court documents say Smith “left [his] home of origin and drove to [the] White House to pass a message to the president.”
Officials told WPVI-TV they have not established a motive for Tuesday’s attack.
[Image via AP Images]