BOMB THREAT AT CASS COUNTY COURTHOUSE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

        CASSOPOLIS – Nearly three years after a deadly shooting at the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph, people at another area courthouse faced the possibility of another tragedy occurring last week.

        A bomb threat was called in last Friday morning at around 8:45 a.m. to the Cass County Sheriff’s Department, Cass County Sheriff Richard J. Behnke reported. He said the Cass County Central Dispatch received two 9-1-1 phone calls indicating that a bomb had been placed in the Cass County Courthouse and would go off when the timer expired.

The decision was then made to quickly evacuate both the Law and Courts Building and the historic County Courthouse building which houses county administrative offices. Employees and visitors left both buildings and spent the next three hours outside while the buildings were searched inside and out by sheriff’s deputies and the Berrien County bomb squad.

The Berrien bomb/explosive detection K-9 searched the interior and exterior of both buildings including the roofs without locating any explosives or suspicious packages.  Employees and visitors were allowed back into the Law and Courts Building at 11:45 a.m. Friday and back into the administration building at 12:30 p.m. to resume a regular schedule.

Behnke reported that deputies and detectives from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office have been following up on leads from the calls and other resources and believe an identification of the suspect is close.

Cass County Chief Judge Susan Dobrich said Friday morning that the sheriff’s department had received a threat about a bomb being placed inside one of the buildings and all precautions were being taken to make sure everyone was safe.

She noted that the memory of the July 2016 incident at the Berrien County Courthouse is still fresh in everyone’s mind and was one reason for the decision to evacuate the buildings.

“We’re obviously treating it as a credible threat,” Dobrich said inside the Broadway Café where several officials had gathered. “We have to consider it a credible threat and search the buildings.”

She noted that the state requires county governments to have security committees that meet regularly throughout the year. “We meet four times a year and we will meet after this to see what we might need to change,” she said.

Dobrich said she couldn’t remember another bomb threat type incident at the Law and Courts building which has been open since 2003. Officials have faced other issues over the years involving power, technology and bad weather, she noted.

Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said the Law and Courts staff conduct security drills twice a year to prepare for just such an incident as occurred Friday morning.

The July 11, 2016 incident in Berrien County began when a Coloma man in custody, Larry Gordon, 45, shot and injured Berrien County Sheriff’s Deputy James Atterberry, Jr. and the killed veteran court bailiffs Joseph Zangaro, 61, and Ronald Kienzle, 63.

The incident received national attention and caused not only Berrien County officials to take a new look at courthouse security but officials in nearby counties including Cass. Berrien County Commissioners voted later that year to hire two more deputies to escort prisoners in the courthouse.

Other security issues raised and ultimately acted on included purchasing new safety equipment for officers as well as more shackles and handcuffs for inmates.