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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Friday, June 19, 2009 10:21 PM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland, son of Glen Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Law enforcement officers exit Ottawa City Hall Friday morning after searching the building for a reported gunman. The gunman was not found in the building and evacuated workers were allowed to return to the building about 10 a.m.

Witness: Man with gun walked ‘with purpose’

Gun scare at City Hall

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Daughter of Mark Servaes

Leslie Quillen saw him through the window of Ottawa City Hall.

Quillen, assistant to the city manager, said the man was walking toward the building carrying what appeared to be a gun.

“He was walking with purpose,” Quillen said from her desk on the top floor of City Hall, 101 S. Hickory St.

Quillen immediately alerted others in the building — Wynndee Lee, director of the city’s planning and codes department, and Scott Bird, finance director — about what she saw. City Manager Richard Nienstedt was not at work Friday.

“My first thought was, ‘That’s something you don’t see every day,’” Quillen said. “And that I needed to tell someone.”

Ottawa Police Chief Dennis Butler said the police department and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office responded to the report at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, evacuating the building, which also houses the Ottawa Library.

“Our response is to go find the person before anyone is hurt,” Butler said.

Butler said law enforcement officers searched the building but didn’t find the gunman. Video surveillance from the building also did not indicate that the gunman ever entered the building, Butler said.

Quillen said she couldn’t tell whether the gunman entered the building or walked past it when she was looking out the window.

“Public places can be places of turmoil,” Quillen said.

Quillen described the man as a white man in his 20s, about 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, wearing a baseball cap, blue jeans and a shirt with cut-off sleeves.

Quillen wasn’t the only person to spot the gunman. John Sayler, Lawrence, was on his way to Ramsey Printing Company, 602 N. Main St., at about 9 a.m. when he noticed a man carrying a rifle in both hands.

“I really thought that was unusual,” Sayler said. “I wasn’t expecting to see that.”

Sayler said the man was walking with a “mission” a couple of blocks from the printing company.

“In this day and age, that gets my attention,” Sayler said. “It happens too often anymore, and you can’t be too careful.”

Sayler said the man was walking south.

At the Ottawa Library, Dustin Blankenship, 16, Ottawa, was checking his e-mail and entering contests online when a woman came downstairs and said everyone needed to leave the library immediately, Blankenship said.

He and another library patron, Mary Carson, 55, Ottawa, who was in the upstairs part of the library, said they heard people talk about someone with a gun.

“We saw the cops in the library, and they had guns out and then they said we had to leave,” Carson said. “I didn’t see anybody with a gun but the cops.”

Blankenship and Carson filed outside with dozens of people. They were told to move away from City Hall, Carson said.

“They wouldn’t even let us stay in the alley because they said we could get shot,” she said.

Lee said City Hall has protocol for incidents like this one, but every situation is different.

“We couldn’t evacuate in a normal manner,” Lee said. “Law enforcement directed us differently.”

Instead of evacuating as one large group, Lee said the building was divided into two different locations for about 20 minutes while the building was searched.

“We’ll make a few changes,” Lee said of the evacuation plan in place. “While it wasn’t a drill, it will serve as a learning experience.”

Butler said a police officer remained at City Hall for the remainder of the day for safety reasons.

“It’s just a precaution,” Butler said. “It’s not because we think he’ll come back.”

Butler added that there is no evidence that a crime occurred.

“It’s not illegal to walk down the street with a gun,” Butler said.

However, police said they would like to know the identity of the person and the reason why he was carrying a gun in a heavily traveled area of the business district. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Department at (785) 242-2561, ext. 414.

Even if the man did not intend to cause trouble, Quillen said she thought it was out of the ordinary to spot someone with a gun so close to City Hall.

“He didn’t appear to be menacing,” she said. “It’s just not normal.”

Brian Williams contributed to this report.

•••

Carrying a gun: What’s legal?

Openly carrying a gun in public isn’t illegal.

“It is not illegal as long as you’re not brandishing it or threatening anyone,” Bob Bezek, attorney for the City of Ottawa, said.

An example Bezek used was that if someone bought a gun at a pawn shop, he or she would have to walk it out to his or her vehicle.

“There is a constitutional right to bear arms,” Bezek said.

Kansas also allows residents to carry concealed weapons, but they must attend training under a certified instructor, obtain a permit to do so and meet certain qualifications like not having an adult felony conviction. The law has been in effect since 2006.

Places it is illegal to carry a firearm include government buildings, libraries and churches, Bezek said.