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DA: Deputy injured by colleague, not attacker, in courthouse stab attack

Chester County authorities said a deputy sheriff was justified in shooting Curtis Smith to death after Smith attacked another deputy with a knife Tuesday.

Curtis Smith (Chester County Sheriff's Office)
Curtis Smith (Chester County Sheriff's Office)Read more

A DEPUTY SHERIFF injured when a man attacked him with a knife at the Chester County courthouse Tuesday was shot in the hand by another deputy, not knifed by his attacker as investigators initially thought, county District Attorney Tom Hogan announced yesterday.

Still, deputy sheriff Kevin Brough hailed his colleague as a hero, as he recovered from surgery to repair wounds suffered in his bloody brawl with Curtis Smith. The colleague, who Hogan refused to identify, fatally shot Smith as he attacked Brough. Brough's ballistics vest stopped Smith's knife from gutting him, but the close quarters and intense violence of the attack meant Brough got caught in the gunfire, Hogan said.

"My fellow deputy sheriff not only saved my life in this tragic event, but also potentially the lives of many other citizens who were in the Justice Center," Brough said. "I consider my colleague to be a hero for the actions he took and the people he protected."

After spending a "normal" morning with relatives, Smith, 34, stormed the courthouse just before noon Tuesday, shouted "Let's do this s--t!" at Brough and then started slashing at him with a folding knife, Hogan said.

Another deputy responded by firing his gun at Smith three times, hitting him twice in the torso, Hogan said. Smith died later at Paoli Memorial Hospital, and authorities locked down the courthouse for the rest of the day.

Neither deputy knew Smith nor had any prior contact with him, and the attack appears to have been random, he added.

Hogan ruled the shooting justified and suggested Smith's mental-health and related problems sparked the rampage.

Marital troubles led his wife to file a protection order against him, and he was arrested in May for burglary, assault and harassment, Hogan said. He faced unresolved criminal charges for unlawful entry in Washington, D.C., after he allegedly hopped the White House fence in March and got tackled by Secret Service agents.

His cousin Sonni Walton told the Daily News Tuesday that she believed both the Chester County and D.C. incidents were attempts by Smith to commit "suicide by cop." Smith never recovered after his brother Derek gunned down their father in 2012, Walton said.

"There is no such thing as a 'good' shooting, because a man has lost his life, and it is clear in retrospect that there were mental health issues involved," Hogan said.

Smith, who lived in both Coatesville and Downington, was unemployed at the time of his death, although he previously worked for AmeriGas, Hogan said.

Hogan credited the deputies' "appropriate and professional" response with preventing worse carnage.

"All of the training that we do to address active threats paid dividends," Hogan said. "In many of these attacks in public buildings around the nation, there have been multiple casualties of innocent civilians. That did not happen here because of the immediate response of the deputy sheriffs."

County Sheriff Carolyn 'Bunny' Welsh agreed: "The quick response and training of the deputy sheriffs in this encounter averted what could have been an even greater tragedy."

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