Kokomo courthouse will get metal detectors 2 decades after bombing

KOKOMO -- The Howard County Courthouse is getting metal detectors nearly 20 years after a man smuggled a bomb inside and detonated it, killing himself and injuring 15 others.\nThe county will use a $29,295 Indiana Department of Homeland Security grant to buy an X-ray machine, tables and a metal detector to increase security at the courthouse, Howard Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray said Tuesday.\nThe equipment will be placed at a public entrance at the east doorway of the downtown courthouse.\n"We want the equipment used during high-profile trials," Murray said. "It is mainly a deterrent. People coming into the courthouse will be screened for weapons."\nIn 1987, Robert David Gray, who was being tried on drug charges, smuggled a briefcase loaded with four pipe bombs into the courthouse about 40 miles north of Indianapolis.\nThen-Sheriff John D. Beatty steered Gray into his office to examine the contents of the briefcase, and the explosives went off, killing Gray.\nBeatty was standing about five feet away from Gray and was injured when the bomb exploded. He died in 1999.\nMurray said she expected to have the equipment purchased by the end of October and installed soon afterward.\nCounty Commissioner Brad Bagwell said officials had considered additional courthouse security for some time. Officials still are working out how to staff the checkpoint, which could be done with county employees, reserve sheriff's deputies or private security.\n"The opportunity presented itself that we could get the equipment at no cost to the county," he said. "This is something we needed to do"