A man unhappy with a judge's ruling in his divorce case returned to the court house on Wednesday and shot and killed one of its employees, authorities said.
The alleged killer — a 57-year-old Austrian male — was arrested after gunning down a 42-year-old court employee who is the mother of two young children, police said. No other injuries have been reported at the district courthouse in Hollabrunn, a town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Vienna, Austria's capital, said Leopold Etz of the Lower Austrian criminal police force.
Etz could not immediately confirm local media reports that the woman had been shot in the head. He said the motive of the unidentified attacker was not immediately clear but that he apparently had come to the courthouse for a divorce-related matter.
Wilhelm Tschugguel, president of a court in the town of Korneuburg that oversees the Hollabrunn court, said the alleged killer was unhappy with the outcome of his divorce proceedings and had entered the court in Hollabrunn to find the judge who had handled the case.
Court Kills Death Penalty for Retarded Man
The Missouri Supreme Court overturned a death penalty sentence for man who is mentally retarded. Andrew Lyons, 52, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death for the 1992 killing of his estranged girlfriend.
Lyons filed a petition in mandamus, claiming to be mentally retarded and therefore ineligible to be executed.
A court-appointed master supported Lyons' claims. The master concluded that Lyons' IQ was in a range of 61 to 70, that Lyons had continual extensive related deficits in two adaptive behaviors, and that the symptoms were present and documented before Lyons had turned 18.
"Although there is evidence, as noted earlier, that Lyons manifested these conditions before age 18, the state contends there was insufficient documentation of these conditions," the court wrote in a unanimous opinion.
"The state vigorously notes the lack of an IQ test result from prior to age 18 and the scant school records and other evidence with respect to the adaptive behaviors.