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Grand jury indicts Braddock man shot by security at Harrisburg courthouse | TribLIVE.com
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Grand jury indicts Braddock man shot by security at Harrisburg courthouse

Paula Reed Ward
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AP
The federal courthouse in Harrisburg.

A convicted murderer living in a Braddock halfway house who was shot after authorities said he tried to stab a security officer at the federal courthouse in Harrisburg has been indicted.

Joseph Louis Camino, 56, is charged with assaulting a federal officer and possessing a dangerous weapon in a federal facility.

He was initially charged via criminal complaint, and on Wednesday, a grand jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania handed up an indictment.

According to the criminal complaint, Camino entered the Sylvia H. Rambo U.S. Courthouse on North 6th Street around 8:30 a.m. on Monday.

He spoke to a court security officer briefly and then left. Security video showed Camino exit the building and briefly sit outside, placing an object in his right hand and then his right hand in his front jacket pocket.

The video then showed Camino re-enter the courthouse and approach the security officers “almost immediately brandishing a knife in his right hand while lunging at and attempting to stab [an officer,]” the complaint said.

Another court security officer drew his gun, commanded Camino to drop the knife and, investigators said, when he didn’t comply, shot him multiple times.

Camino was taken to a local hospital and listed in stable condition.

The knife’s blade was longer than 2 1/2 inches, the complaint said.

Camino was previously convicted of third-degree murder, burglary and robbery in Indiana County and ordered to serve 25 to 50 years in prison.

He was paroled on May 8 and was living in a halfway house in Braddock.

However, on Dec. 15, according to investigators, Camino left the halfway house at 8:15 a.m. and failed to return.

During his time in prison, the criminal complaint said, Camino filed four federal lawsuits in the Middle District, and each of them were dismissed by now-retired U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo.

Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.

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