FRESNO, Calif. (Map, News) - A man with a history of mental illness burst into a packed courtroom Monday wielding two carving knives and was shot to death as he threatened a judge he may have blamed for his misfortune, authorities said.

Robert Eaton, 40, had an extensive arrest record and last year, rammed his car into the Merced County courthouse out of anger that he was refused treatment by a mental health facility, Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin said. Merced is about 50 miles northwest of Fresno.

On Monday, Eaton drove back there in a Toyota Camry he hijacked from someone who was hired to take him to a doctor's appointment, Pazin said. He ran past guards and through a set of metal detectors at the front door holding a knife in each hand, he said.

As attorneys and witnesses cried out, Eaton charged through the doors of Courtroom 2 and into the well where lawyers were standing in the midst of court proceedings, Chief Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt said.

"As soon as he hit the inside doors, I was behind him and I started yelling that he had a knife," said Nutt, who saw Eaton approach as he stood in the hallway talking with a colleague. "The officers started yelling at him, and yelling at everybody else to get down, and at that point it was rather chaotic. People started screaming, people started heading for the door, and I just ran back outside."

As Judge Brian McCabe tried to hurry his court clerks out of the courtroom through his chambers, Eaton held the knives aloft in a stabbing position about 30 feet away, Nutt said.

When Eaton refused to drop the weapons, several officers fired directly at him, and the man died on the courtroom floor, in front of a few dozen witnesses, law enforcement officers and others doing business in the court, Pazin said.

"There is a likelihood that he and Judge McCabe may have crossed paths in his courtroom," Pazin said Monday. "He had the knives in tow and literally left the vehicle running and came straight over to the courthouse."

Nutt said a public defender told him he recognized the suspect as a previous client with a history of mental illness.

Eaton had an arrest record dating back nearly two decades for car theft, vandalism and other charges, Pazin said.

No other injuries were immediately reported, but the courthouse was locked down for hours as investigators interviewed witnesses and officers involved in the incident, said sheriff's spokesman Tom MacKenzie.

(This version CORRECTS that Eaton was shot in front of a few dozen witnesses, instead of a few dozen lawyers.)

Comments from Examiner Readers

11:52 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Bailiffs kill man who fired shots inside Florida courthouse"

Relative said:
Suicide by bailiff. He only barely nicked the bailiff, and a window, no one else. His soon-to-be ex-wife wasn't ever in any danger. He wanted to give away his ammunition that his parents didn't know he even had. He had to know he wouldn't get inside any further than the security checkpoint. He was an idealist who was distressed at his opinion that there are things not right in the country and government. Everyone who knew him would never believe that he would ever seriously hurt anyone, and he didn't. Just a nick in the shoulder, hitting the radio and a window. He wasn't just a weirdo. He was a funny, ultra gentle self-sacrificing generous man up until the last moment of his life. Who knows what made him snap? It's good we have security checkpoints to stop people doing more damage when they're not in their right mind.

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2:10 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Authorities: Fla. courthouse shooter had ammo, gas mask"

Bill said:
This wierdo was stopped before he could go on his killing rampage. This is just another example of why more law abiding citizens should carry guns. Imagine how many lives would have been saved from the Georgia Tech shooter if the campus wasn't a "gun free" zone. A university professor at G.T. with a concealed weapons permit could have saved innocent life.

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8:39 PM MST on Fri., Feb. 8, 2008 re: "Nev. Man Gets Life Term for Killing Wife"

Examiner Reader said:
He should have gotten death , anyone who takes anothers life by murder[should be put to death]. Now tax payers have to feed this scum til he is 82 or dead .

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