California IN BRIEF : SANTA ANA : Armed Man Sneaks Into Courthouse

A man armed with a handgun slipped into the Orange County courthouse and scuffled with a county marshal, triggering an all-day search of the building by several SWAT teams. About 10 county employees were evacuated and Orange County sheriff’s tactical teams and six police dogs entered the courthouse’s west wing for a floor-by-floor search. Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Rivas said the incident began about 7:30 a.m., when Santa Ana firefighters unlocked the courthouse doors to investigate a fire alarm that proved to be false. Soon afterward, Marshal Evan Scheib found the man in a stairwell. The man pulled out a semiautomatic handgun, and when Scheib pulled his weapon the man fled upstairs. Rivas said it was possible that the man escaped out a side door before the building was sealed off.