The shooting of two security staff that took place at the Berrien County Courthouse in early July received national media attention. It was a tragic event leaving two courthouse bailiffs dead, two others wounded. The shooter himself is dead, having been shot by responding Berrien police officers. 45-year-old Larry Darnell Gordon, the shooter who managed to take a gun from a deputy sheriff during a transfer at the courthouse was present for arraignment on numerous felony charges. Several of those charges were for sex crimes and as it turns out, even more evidence is coming to light about this issue after Gordon’s death.
When officers arrived at Gordon’s home to arrest him on a domestic violence warrant, they became aware of activity in a shed behind the house. Gordon was apparently inside and he had barricaded the door against officers. Further investigation by police revealed that there was a young girl held captive inside the shed. By then Gordon had already fled through a dog door and run from police. He was located about 40 minutes later by a canine officer, hiding under an enclosed porch.
The girl who was found in Gordon’s shed is a 17-year-old. Along with her, officers found 8 grams of crystal meth, 30 grams of marijuana resin, marijuana pipes, a digital scale, meth straws and meth pipes. The girl told officers that Gordon had held her captive in the shed for two weeks. During that time,the girl said, Gordon raped her repeatedly. She also claimed that he had given her meth in exchange for the sex, assaulted her with weapons, strangled her, and videotaped these encounters.
The girl did eventually admit that some of the sexual encounters between her and Gordon had been consensual, but only when she was under the influence of drugs. Gordon, she claimed, gave her alcohol, meth, Xanax, Norco, and various other pills. She also told police that she would never have had consensual sex with Gordon had she been “in her right mind.”
She later told officers that she and Gordon had been in a relationship since October of 2015 but that his behavior had changed in recent months becoming more violent and unpredictable. She attributed this to his increasing drug use. She also admitted that she had been living in the shed because Gordon’s ex-wife refused to allow her to live in the house with them. She said that Gordon would lock her in there during the day to ensure that she didn’t leave.
As if these allegations aren’t troubling enough, officers have also linked Gordon to another underaged girl whom they believe may have been his victim. According to police records, an officer made contact with a girl the day before the courthouse shooting who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Gordon in either 2014 or 2015, when she was 15 years old. An in person interview was scheduled with the girl but after Gordon’s death, was cancelled by police.
Whatever the truth is in this tragic story, Gordon is now dead and we will never have a chance to hear his side of the story. For this reason, our criminal defense teams reminds our readers that while many accusations have been made against him and numerous charges were filed, Gordon died before he had a chance to defend himself in court. For this reason, he is not considered to be guilty of any of these crimes in the eyes of the law.