A man died by suicide inside a federal courtroom in North Dakota after he was found guilty, officials say.
A U.S. Marshal told KVRR the man was on trial at the Fargo courthouse and the jury had returned a guilty verdict when he “produced an edge weapon and cut his throat” in front of the judge, courtroom staff and others. The jury had already left the room, the news outlet reported.
Security officers and deputy marshals tried to save the man’s life in the courtroom but he died of his injuries, The Associated Press reported. The type of instrument the man used and how it entered the courtroom remained unclear Monday evening.
“All the questions you have, we have,” FBI spokesman Kevin Smith told the AP. “What was the sharp object, how did it get into the courtroom, those questions, what did people see him do.”
A woman who said she was in the courtroom spoke to KVLY but didn’t declined to share her name.
“The guy turned around and you could see the inside of his neck. He had slit his neck with some object…don’t know if it was plastic or what it was,” the woman told KVLY. “One of the other attorneys in there said it looked like a pen, but his attorney said it looked like a scalpel.”
The man, who authorities did not identify, was on trial on terrorizing-related charges, KVRR reported.
Kansas City Star
