Bail set at $250,000 for accused state building shooter
A judge set bail at $250,000 Thursday for a 73-year-old man charged with shooting a lawyer inside the state Department of Administration’s Hearings Division building.
Leonard Sullivan walked into the building at 2200 S. Rancho Drive, near Sahara Avenue, on Monday morning and shot a lawyer he felt wronged him in a decade-old $1.4 million workers’ compensation claim, police said.
On Thursday, Sullivan appeared in court wearing a blue jail jumpsuit and using a walker. Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Sciscento allowed Sullivan to remain seated during a hearing that lasted less than five minutes.
Through appointed public defense lawyer, Darren Cox, Sullivan pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, including attempted murder, battery with use of a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm, discharge of a firearm at or within a structure, carrying a concealed weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Sullivan had no prior criminal history, Cox told the judge.
Police said when Sullivan entered the state office building he was decked out in a suit and hat, walked with a cane and carried a revolver.
Sullivan passed Michael Kogler, who works as a hearing advocate for a law firm, and “yelled out” his name, police said. When Kogler replied “yes,” Sullivan shot him once in the upper chest, according to the report.
The two men first met in 2003 when Sullivan filed a workman compensations complaint after tripping over a bell cart at The Mirage, then owned by MGM Mirage, now called MGM Resorts International. Kogler was an MGM insurance coordinator on the case.
After the company cut off support for Sullivan and closed his case, Sullivan sought to reopen his case and named Kogler in court filings.
A security guard at the state building on Monday told police that after the shooting Sullivan seemed unstable and had a trouble putting down the gun.
Sullivan told the guard that Kogler had been “messing over him for 10 years,” according to a police report. While in handcuffs, Sullivan told the guard that he was going to put the gun into his own mouth.
Kogler was at University Medical Center in critical but stable condition. He was expected to survive.
Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.
