A jail inmate who had been placed on a suicide watch since his arrest last week on bank robbery charges shot and killed himself inside a courthouse Monday after grabbing a gun from a bailiff’s holster.
Sheriff Barry DeLau said William Foster, 34, of Weidman, was being returned to the holding cell in Isabella County Courthouse when he seized the pistol.
The gun discharged during a struggle, wounding the bailiff. Foster then fled into Circuit Judge Paul Chamberlain’s courtroom, where he had been arraigned moments earlier, and fatally shot himself in the head, DeLau said.
Foster had been arrested Saturday for the Thursday robbery of a Beal City bank. Police took him into custody after a 15-minute standoff during which Foster told police he had a concealed weapon.
DeLau said he believes Foster was trying to get officers to shoot him.
