ATLANTA — The heavily armed gunman who attempted to storm the Forsyth County courthouse in Georgia on Friday planned to smash his SUV into the building and attach bombs to hostages.
Dennis Marx wore two sets of bulletproof vests. That initially made it difficult for sheriff’s deputies to stop him before he was shot dead.
Marx rented a particular type of SUV — a Nissan Armada — he thought he would be able to drive up the steps of the courthouse and into the building. Found inside his vehicles were explosives made to physically link hostages together.
Forsyth Sheriff Duane Piper revealed those details Saturday during an interview at his office in Cumming, while hailing the bravery of his deputies and underscoring how their training kicked in.
“Between what he had with him, what he had on him, what he had in the vehicle and what he had at his house, he was coming there to take hostages,” said Piper, who took office in January of last year. “He was coming there to occupy that courthouse and kill as many people as he could.”
Piper said he has not found any evidence indicating Marx had accomplices or was part of any anti-government groups, including the Sovereign Citizens Movement, as has been reported in the news media.
Marx had filed a lawsuit against Piper’s agency, saying that it had confiscated his life savings and weapons. He hoped to spare “unsuspecting citizens” the “lies and brutality that he has personally survived to date,” Marx wrote in court filings. Marx was expected at a court hearing on criminal charges on Friday before he launched his assault.
He was arrested in 2011 on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.
