August 25, 2015
Curtis Smith, the Coatesville man who jumped over the White House fence earlier this year and was shot dead Tuesday after allegedly attacking a deputy with a knife at the Chester County District Justice Center, was seemingly in a right state of mind after the Washington incident, said the lawyer who represented him.
Martin Rosendorf was representing Smith in a federal case in which he was charged for allegedly scaling the White House fence in March.
"I'm shocked," Rosendorf said upon learning that Smith had been shot dead in an incident at the courthouse. "He seemed like a nice man. He wasn't a wacko or anything."
Smith, 34, was charged with unlawful entry in March for allegedly climbing over a stone wall at the White House and walking across the grounds. He reportedly told arresting officers that he had a message to deliver to the president.
The federal government granted a plea agreement in which the case would be dismissed if Smith did not get arrested in the future. Rosendorf said the agreement was given because Smith "wasn't considered a real threat here."
"He realized that it was the wrong way to approach it," Rosendorf said. "He was remorseful about what he was doing. He was normal, as far as I could see. But you never know what is going on in the back of their minds."
Smith was due back in federal court Oct. 9, Rosendorf said.
He also was scheduled to appear Oct. 7 in a Pennsylvania district court for a preliminary hearing on robbery and related charges stemming from an arrest in May, according to court documents. He had posted bail in June.
District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan said Smith entered the courthouse lobby and slashed a deputy sheriff with a knife at the security entrance around 11:50 a.m. Another deputy sheriff shot Smith, who died after being transported to a Paoli Hospital.
Detectives are still searching for the motive behind Smith's attack, First Assistant District Attorney Mike Noone said.
"We don't have any information that makes us think it was targeted to that specific deputy," Noone said.
The identities of the deputies involved in the incident have not been released.
The injured sheriff deputy was in stable condition after being transported to Chester County Hospital and then flown to a trauma unit, Hogan said. The officer received treatments to his wounded arm and hand.
The Chester County Detectives office will continue to investigate the incident.
David Widdowson told 6ABC that he was sitting outside the courthouse when he heard three gunshots. He later saw both a police officer and another man wheeled out of the building on stretchers.
Emergency medical personnel and deputy sheriffs removed a man from the front security screening area on a stretcher at 12:05 p.m., the Daily Local News reported. The man appeared to be handcuffed and to have bandages over two possible wounds on his left abdomen.
Hogan called the response of the deputies "a model response to a violent incident."
"In Chester County, we have trained intensively to deal with the threat of an attacker in the Justice Center or any other public building," Hogan said in a statement. "Today, that training paid off. The armed attacker was immediately neutralized by the sheriff's deputies. Law enforcement responded to make sure that all of the citizens, judges and court staff were safe."
The courthouse, which reportedly was evacuated, was closed to the public following the shooting. It is expected to reopen Wednesday.
