Left with no other recourse other than to actually pay his child support, Perry Manley put on camouflage, entered a Seattle courthouse with an inoperable grenade in his hand, a backwards backpack over his chest with a cutting board and living will inside, and got himself killed. Seattle police didn’t know the grenade didn’t work.
Fifteen years of having his concerns ignored was the point he boiled over. He was going to get some attention or die trying. Security guards were very familiar with Manley, who visited the courthouse often to make his petitions.
A little before noon on the Monday after Father’s Day, Manley attempted to skirt by the metal detectors, grenade and documents in hand for District Judge Thomas Zilly, who had repeatedly denied his requests for justice. A letter filed in court last April had Manley accusing the judge of treason, a crime Manley said was punishable by death.
When the security guards confronted Manley after his stealthy attempt to squeak by, he placed the documents for Judge Zilly on the floor and held the grenade with both hands. For the next 20 minutes, while the building began evacuation procedures, and security was relieved by US Marshals, police on the scene attempted to negotiate and plead with Manley to put down the grenade.
After he “made a furtive movement with the grenade,” police shot him once with a shotgun and again with a .223-caliber assault rifle. Manley died instantly.
It was determined later that the grenade was inactive. The bottom had been drilled out. After the bomb squad was called in to examine the backpack, only a cutting board and a copy of Manley’s living will was found inside.
Manley must have had a premonition that this would be his last day on Earth, as police believe the cutting board was intended to be used as a shield against police fire. Coupled with the will, his death may be ruled “suicide by police.”
