One dead after Jackson County courthouse shooting

MAQUOKETA - The former city manager of Maquoketa was killed after shooting at a Jackson County employee during a meeting of the county's Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning.

According to Jackson County Sheriff Russ Kettman and Maquoketa Police Chief Brad Koranda, the incident occurred when 71-year-old Francis 'Gus” Glaser, a former Maquoketa city manager, grew agitated while discussing the tax assessment on his home.

'We did receive information he was not happy for the last several years about his taxes being raised,” Kettman said. 'The assessor was going over the reasons why. It got very vocal. The supervisors decided to shut the meeting down and let the assessor leave.”

At this point, police said, Glaser opened up his briefcase and pulled out a handgun. Glaser fired one shot at county assessor Deb Lane. Lane was not hit and was not injured, police said.

Kettman said county supervisor Larry 'Buck” Koos was near Glaser and tackled the shooter. Two others in the audience joined in and during the struggle, Glaser's gun fired a second time. Glaser was killed by the shot.

'He still had the gun in his hand,” Koranda said, describing the scene. 'His trigger finger was on the trigger.”

Koos was injured when his arm hit a plate-glass window. Police said he was hospitalized, received stitches for his injuries and was discharged.

Authorities said they don't know whether the shot was self-inflicted. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation will investigate the shooting, Kettman said.

One thing is certain, Kettman said: Without Koos' intervention, the shooting could have been much worse.

'If he wouldn't have been there, more than one shot could have happened really easy,” Kettman said. 'It could have been a lot worse.”

The shooting caused Maquoketa Middle School to go into a precautionary lockdown.

The Jackson County Courthouse does not have permanent security measures, Kettman said. During high-profile court cases, a deputy is staffed at the courthouse with a hand-held metal detector.

Glaser did not have a permit to purchase or carry a firearm, Kettman said.

Corridor security measures

Locally, neither the Linn County or Johnson County administration buildings - where board of supervisor meetings are hosted - use metal detectors or are staffed by deputies. The Linn County Courthouse and the county's juvenile justice center has secure entrances and is staffed by deputies. The Johnson County Courthouse is staffed by two deputies, but does not have secure entrances, a topic frequently discussed by Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek has he tried to convince the public to support safety, space and security improvements to the courthouse.

'This is sort of a reminder, things like this do happen,” Pulkrabek said of the Jackson County shooting.

While most county offices are housed in the administration building, Pulkrabek said 'all kinds of volatile” cases happen in the courthouse, from contentious divorces to custody hearings to domestic abuse cases. The administration building has its share of disgruntled visitors, especially around tax time, Pulkrabek said.

In Linn County, Sheriff Brian Gardner said while the Board of Supervisors has not asked for permanent security measures at the administration building, he will occasionally send a deputy over when he's made aware of a contentious topic on the agenda or a potentially angry visitor from the public.

'They've asked and we certainly have complied and provided a deputy at those meetings,” Gardner said.

Pulkrabek, who serves on the board for the Iowa State Association of Counties, said courthouse security is a statewide issue. Unfortunately, for many counties, the money isn't there to secure those facilities.

'‘How do we pay for this and how do we afford it?'” Pulkrabek said, quoting the concerns of other county officials.

The Jackson County Courthouse will be closed until Wednesday, authorities said.