The University of Idaho Argonaut

The shooter involved with an assault on the Latah County Courthouse Saturday has been identified as 36-year-old Moscow resident Jason Hamilton, police said Monday. Upon investigation of Hamilton’s last known address, police found the body of his wife, 30-year-old Crystal Hamilton, who had been killed by a single gunshot wound to the head.

Crystal Hamilton had been a maintenance worker at the Latah County Courthouse since 2000. Police believe Hamilton killed her before his rampage Saturday and early Sunday. Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch said that Crystal Hamilton was a “member of the team” at Latah County and that she was well liked and friendly.

“She knew everybody,” Rausch said, “and everybody knew her.”

Police also identified the wounded civilian who attempted to assist police Saturday night as University of Idaho senior Peter Husmann. Husmann is in serious but stable condition at Gritman Hospital. (Read more about Pete Husmann) Sheriff’s deputy Brannon Jordan, who was also wounded during the response, is in stable condition and is expected to be released Monday afternoon.

Assistant Chief David Duke of the Moscow Police Department said that Hamilton was armed with two semi-automatic rifles, an M-1 found in the courthouse parking lot and an SKS-style rifle found next to his body. He fired more than 125 rounds in the parking lot of the courthouse, and another 60-80 after moving inside the First Presbyterian Church.

As yet, police have found no motive for the shootings.

“I don’t think we will ever know (a motive),” said Moscow Police Chief Dan Weaver, who called the event an “anomaly” in the Moscow community. Though police can speculate, Weaver said there is no way to know for sure.

Rausch said that there were no apparent connections between the Hamiltons and the county dispatchers, at whose office the shootings were initially directed.

“It was rage,” Rausch said, adding that there was substantial bullet damage to vehicles in the courthouse parking lot as well as the building itself.

Hamilton, who police believe has military experience, had a history of criminal violence, Duke said, and was taken into involuntary protective custody after attempting suicide in February. While undergoing mental evaluation, police said, Hamilton told doctors that were he to commit suicide, he would do so in a way that would kill others, too.

After being found guilty of domestic battery in January 2006, Hamilton was sentenced to 180 days in jail on June 6, 2006, a sentence which was cut to 90 days as long as Hamilton served two years of probation, during which time he would be prohibited from possessing firearms and would have to attend counseling. In April, he was found in violation of his probation, and in a hearing May 15 was ordered to begin counseling by June 5 or serve the remaining 90 days of his prison sentence.

Though his probation prohibited possession of firearms, police believe that Hamilton acquired the guns used in the shooting through legal means over an extended period of time.