Gunfire rang out at the Forysth County Courthouse Friday after a man opened fire on a deputy, injuring him in the leg. The gunman was shot and killed a short time later. 
 
 
 
 Forsyth County Sheriff Duane Piper said the shooter, Dennis Marx, walked into Forsyth County Administration Building on East Main Street at about 10:30 a.m. and opened fire. He was armed with an assault rifle, according to authorities. Piper said Marx threw stop sticks on the road so that cars could not approach. 
 
 
 
 Marx was approached by deputy Daniel Rush who he then shot in the leg, Piper confirmed. 
 
 “The only way I can describe it is in a frontal assault on our court house,” Piper said. 
 
 Piper said Rush was taken to North Fulton Hospital in Roswell with non-life threatening injuries. 
 
 “From the video, it looks like he saw that deputy, swerved to try and run over the deputy. The deputy engaged him. He was shooting at Mr. Marx in the vehicle, Mr. Marx was shooting through the windshield at the deputy,” Piper said. 
 
 
 
 The SWAT team, which was on its way to a separate incident, arrived at the courthouse within 37 seconds. Marx was shot dead in front of the court house a short time later. 
 
 None of the other deputies involved in the incident were injured. 
 
 
 
 Piper described Marx’s home as a “bomb.” When officers entered the home Friday night, they found pipe bombs and other incendiary devices but none were booby-trapped to go off. 
 
 
 
 The sheriff said evidence showed that Marx had not been living at his home for more than a week and instead had been staying at a hotel. Piper said it will take hours to clear the courthouse. 
 
 “It's kind of creepy to find out a whacko lives in your neighborhood,” Jane Bizzell said. She along with others was not allowed into the neighborhood. Neighbor Dorothy Varano who lived up the street from Marx said police visited her home a number of times throughout the day and told her to stay indoors for her safety. 
 
 But learning the house was filled with explosives made Browning wonder about her now deceased neighbor. 
 
 “I know a lot of people build up a lot of hatred, but I think he built up a double dose to do what he did,” said Margaret Browning. 
 
 The gunman's attorney told Channel 2 she was representing him until Thursday, when she withdrew because he was unsatisfied with her negotiating skills. He was due in court on Friday for marijuana and firearms charges. The attorney said the man was a gun buyer and trader. 
 
 “His emotional state was very fragile. He was very sensitive, very, very, scared. He has no prior criminal history. He was obsessed with not going to jail,” said Marx’s former attorney Ann Shafer. 
 
 The area is still closed as police investigate and drivers are asked to avoid the area of downtown Cumming until further notice. 
 
 Rush posted on his Facebook page that he was “ok.” 
 
 One construction worker was just feet away when the shooting happened. Gary Womack described the situation as intense. 
 
 “It was unreal, like being in the wild west,” Womack said. ||||| Story highlights "It was very close to being a catastrophe," sheriff says 
 
 A deputy underwent surgery after being shot in the leg 
 
 Dennis Marx was armed with gas grenades, assault rifle, and spike strips, police say 
 
 Sheriff: Carrying flexible handcuffs, he appeared intent on taking over courthouse 
 
 Dennis Marx wore body armor and a gas mask. He brandished an assault rifle, an assortment of grenades, "all kinds of ammunition" and even used his silver Nissan SUV as a weapon of sorts, according to authorities. The 48-year-old man toted his own water supply and flexible handcuffs, presumably to corral hostages once he got inside the north Georgia courthouse. 
 
 As Forsyth County Sheriff Duane Piper said, "He came prepared to do this." 
 
 But Dennis Marx never even made it inside. 
 
 A nearly three-minute long gunfight Friday ended with Marx dead, after being confronted by a swarm of law enforcement officers. 
 
 They seemingly came from everywhere -- from the jail across the street, as part of a SWAT team that happened to be nearby and even inside the courthouse where they busted out windows in order to get more angles to target the attacked. 
 
 Dennis Marx was shot and killed by police 
 
 JUST WATCHED Amateur video shows courthouse assault Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Amateur video shows courthouse assault 01:20 
 
 JUST WATCHED Sheriff: 'An assault on our courthouse' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sheriff: 'An assault on our courthouse' 01:16 
 
 Piper singled out one officer in particular -- a veteran sheriff's deputy who first confronted Marx, who then tried to run the deputy over -- for his vital part in deterring the attacker. Shot twice in the leg, the deputy was the only person wounded despite what the sheriff called "a full frontal assault." 
 
 "It was very close to being a major catastrophe," Piper said. "The deputy that was shot ... averted what, I think, would have been a lot more deaths." 
 
 Swift, significant response to attack 
 
 Marx was supposed to be at the Forsyth County Courthouse in Cumming. Court documents show he faced 11 felony charges -- 10 of them related to the manufacture, possession and sale of illicit drugs, including marijuana, plus one count of having a firearm while in the commission of a felony -- dating back to August 2011. 
 
 According to the sheriff's office, he was expected to enter a plea Friday before Chief Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Bagley. 
 
 Needless to say, he never made it. 
 
 Instead, around 10 a.m. Friday, Marx drove up to the courthouse, threw out "homemade spike strips" to delay any police response, and tried to run over the deputy, Piper said. 
 
 The deputy -- a 30-year veteran whose duties include canvassing the scene outside the courthouse -- opened fire, and Marx returned fire through his windshield. 
 
 He didn't stop with bullets. According to the sheriff, Marx tossed tear gas grenades, smoke grenades and pepper spray grenades -- something he could do more easily with his gas mask strapped on. 
 
 Despite this barrage of weapons, the sheriff's deputy was able to distract Marx, to slow him. Even a little delay made a big difference, as officers armed with assault rifles came over from the jail across the street. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Suspect in custody in courthouse shooting Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Suspect in custody in courthouse shooting 01:37 
 
 JUST WATCHED Cops: Shooter made 'full frontal assault' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Cops: Shooter made 'full frontal assault' 03:54 
 
 A SWAT team pulled up about 30 seconds into the firefight and engaged the attacker, according to Piper. The sheriff initially estimated the whole thing took 90 seconds but, after watching more video, he doubled that time. 
 
 However long it lasted, it ended with Marx dead of multiple gunshot wounds. 
 
 With eight officers opening fire at one point, authorities don't yet know which one of them fired the fatal shot. 
 
 'He was there to occupy the courthouse' 
 
 Afterward, the wounded deputy -- identified by local media as James Daniel Rush -- was transported to a local hospital. 
 
 There, the officer had surgery for fractures to his fibula and tibia in the lower right leg, injuries Piper said weren't life-threatening. 
 
 But his colleagues still had to work to do. They went to Marx's home in Cumming, a small city about 35 northeast of downtown Atlanta, with every expectation that it was booby trapped. 
 
 As Piper said: "Last time we were at the home, we were suspicious because it had been booby trapped before." 
 
 Once they finally made their way in and cleared the house, they found homemade explosives, according to a law enforcement source. It wasn't clear whether those were attempted booby traps. 
 
 A preliminary investigation found that Marx hadn't been in his Cumming home for about 10 days. Besides that, little is known about him beyond that he began working at the Transportation Security Administration in October 2002, according to a U.S. official, and left either the next year or in 2004. 
 
 The sheriff said Friday that he and others weren't ready yet to discuss Marx's motive or his thinking. 
 
 That said, Piper said it was evident that Marx "came prepared to stay a while." 
 
 "We don't know who he was coming to the courthouse for, but with the flex ties and the restraining devices he had with him," said the sheriff. "We have to assume that he was there to occupy the courthouse." 
 
 Who is the student who pounded on the Seattle gunman? 
 
 Canada shooting: Suspect yelled 'I'm done' at time of arrest 
 
 Navy seals off Virginia military hospital in hunt for stabbing suspect
– A member of the anti-government sovereign-citizen movement staged what amounted to a one-man assault today on the courthouse in Forsyth County, Georgia, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But Dennis Marx never made it inside. After opening fire from his pickup, he was shot to death by deputies in a shootout that lasted about 90 seconds, reports CNN. One deputy got shot in the leg but will survive. Marx threw some kind of grenades during his assault, along with "spike strips" apparently intended to keep other vehicles from responding. He also had an assault rifle, a gas mask, a bullet-proof vest, and chillingly, flex ties and water. Those last two suggest he intended to take hostages inside the building. “He came for the purpose of occupying the courthouse,” says Forsyth Sheriff Duane Piper. The sheriff says Marx might have been successful if not for a deputy—the one who got shot—who spotted the gunman as soon as he drove up and engaged him. The situation "was solved (with) that deputy's actions," he says. Marx had been due in court this morning on marijuana and weapons charges, reports WSB-TV. Piper says Marx's home is a "bomb" rigged with booby traps, and it will take some time to clear it.