The State - News from March 3, 1987

A man was killed and four people were wounded when a man and a woman armed with handguns took an attorney hostage and shot it out with San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputies in the parking lot of a courthouse in Paso Robles. Authorities said the unidentified man and woman were seen arguing with attorney Fred Metzger of Atascadero before they drew pistols and tried to force him into a motor home parked at the edge of the lot. The witnesses said Metzger tried to reason with the pair, broke free for a moment, and a shot was fired. Deputies who were in the area opened fire, and in the exchange that followed, the gunman was slain, his woman companion and a sheriff’s sergeant, Gary Gray, were wounded and Metzger was shot in the stomach. All the wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, but their conditions were not known.