Courthouse door closed by shooting reopens
WILMINGTON –
The side entrance to the New Castle County Courthouse lobby, which has been closed since a fatal February 2013 shooting at the 12-story building, re-opened on Tuesday without fanfare.
The original doorway was damaged, and the glass was shattered by gunfire. And the shooter – after he killed Christine Belford and Laura "Beth" Mulford – died just steps from the door, taking his own life after he was hit by a police bullet.
Assistant Public Defender Bradley Manning said that for the past 18 months, the white picket fence blocking access to the door from the outside and the large gray wooden wall blocking access from the inside, "did remind you of what happened there."
In the new configuration, the lobby doors nearest the parking garage are now a one-way exit, making the lobby more like an airport security checkpoint where those entering and heading to security screening are separated from those exiting.
"I think the layout makes sense from a security standpoint," Manning said.
A new glass and metal wall now cuts the courthouse lobby in two, so those exiting cannot pass back through the main section of the lobby where visitors line up for security. There is also a new guard post enclosed with mirrored glass in the lobby, opposite the metal detectors and not far from where Thomas Matusiewicz shot and killed his estranged daughter-in-law and her friend on Feb. 11, 2013.
State Court Administrator Patricia Griffin said that the three-month, $575,000 lobby renovation was one of the last steps in a comprehensive revamp of courthouse security and procedures in the wake of the 2013 shooting. She thanked the other branches of government – the governor and the Legislature – for their assistance in implementing and funding the new security measures.
And while that last physical reminder of the shooting – the barricades on the lobby side doors – has been taken down, "I don't think the memory of it will ever go away ... we will all remember," she said.
The revolving door that briefly stalled Matusiewicz's exit on the morning of the shooting has been replaced by a pair of motion-activated sliding doors.
There are several other changes to the lobby, including the installation of bulletproof clear panels by the metal detectors and X-ray screening machines. New security procedures also now prevent anyone from loitering in the lobby.
More Capitol Police also have been hired to beef up security, and new cameras also have been installed, along with other measures officials did not want to discuss.
Federal charges against three surviving members of the Matusiewicz family – Thomas' son David, his widow Lenore and his daughter Amy Gonzalez – are pending in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors allege conspiracy and interstate cyber-stalking of Belford by the three, who each face up to life in prison if convicted.
The three all have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have alleged that Thomas Matusiewicz acted alone and was behaving erratically due to a brain tumor.
David Matusiewicz was involved in a bitter custody and child-support dispute with Belford at the time of the shooting.
Contact Sean O'Sullivan at (302) 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SeanGOSullivan