The Fresno Bee
MERCED, CA — The man shot dead at the Merced County Superior Courthouse on Monday afternoon was a diagnosed schizophrenic with a history of run-ins with the law.
Robert Gerald Eaton, 40, of Atwater was shot by a sheriff’s deputy after he walked into a packed courtroom about 2:45 p.m. carrying two large kitchen knives. Eaton is the same man who crashed his car into the courthouse building in April 2007. He told authorities then that he was angry that he had been refused treatment at a local mental health facility.
On Monday, Eaton returned to the courthouse, this time armed with a knife in each hand. Eaton walked past unarmed guards at a security checkpoint at the court’s entrance, witnesses said. He then charged down the hall to Courtroom 2, where Judge Brian McCabe was presiding over a full courtroom.
Eaton entered the courtroom, where a sheriff’s deputy who was already inside ordered him to drop the knives. Eaton ignored the deputy. He then lunged at Judge McCabe in a “striking position,” Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin said. A deputy shot Eaton four or five times, witnesses said. Eaton died at the scene.
Dartagnan Hutcherson, a 30-year-old witness who was sitting in the middle of Courtroom 2 when Eaton entered, said the 6-foot-4-inch man charged through the doors holding the knives above his head. Eaton said nothing and kept his eyes fixed on Judge McCabe, Hutcherson said.
“This guy comes in with a knife and I thought, ‘Who is this guy out to get?’ ” Hutcherson said. “I was yelling ‘He’s got knives!’”
Hutcherson hit the floor when the sheriff’s deputy opened fire.
Others jumped over seats and scrambled to get out of the room, he said.
Sean Howard, a public defender who saw Eaton running toward Courtroom 2, described him as determined. “He didn’t even give the people in the hallway a second look,” Howard said. “He knew where he was going. ... I was yelling, ‘He’s got knives! He’s got knives!’ Other people were yelling to clear the hallway.”
In Courtroom 1, down the hall from Courtroom 2, people were told to stay inside and stay quiet, said Joshua Eastep, 27. “They locked us down. ...When we heard shots, one lady got so freaked out she was crying. A lot of people were scared.”
Pazin said it was unknown Monday afternoon whether McCabe had presided over cases in which Eaton was a defendant or whether Eaton targeted McCabe for a specific reason. McCabe couldn’t be reached to comment Monday night.
Eaton had a history of arrests dating back back to 1991, Pazin said. His most recent encounter with law enforcement officials was in February 2008, when Merced police arrested him on suspicion of car theft, vandalism and a probation violation.
Sheriff’s officials said they don’t know what prompted Eaton to go to the courthouse Monday, but that he drove there in a stolen car.
He was a client at Turning Point Community Programs, a nonprofit agency that provides psychiatric services for the mentally ill and helps them find jobs and housing. A driver from the agency picked Eaton up shortly after 2 p.m., said Ruben Orozco, a sheriff’s deputy who interviewed the driver after Eaton’s death. The driver, a woman who authorities declined to identify, was supposed to take Eaton to a medical appointment in the Merced area, Orozco said.
Instead, about 10 minutes into the trip, Eaton told the driver to pull over, Orozco said. “He basically said ‘I have some knives. I’m taking the car. I won’t hurt you.’ ” He told her to take her purse and her cell phone and get out, Orozco said. The driver complied, then called authorities.
The driver told Orozco that Eaton suffered from schizophrenia, Orozco said
Copyright 2008 The Fresno Bee