Child Rape Suspect Lunges At Victim In Courtroom

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A man in shackles broke free from an Allegheny County sheriff's deputy and violently threw himself at his alleged victim.

Warren Keith, 35, was in court to finalize a plea agreement. He was being escorted out when he jumped on a row of people. He also allegedly mouthed the word "die" to her as well.

He faces additional charges of aggravated assault, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.

Keith first shocked the courtroom by answering Judge Donna Jo McDaniel in something other than English.

"When he spoke in Arabic, I was like, okay," Carissa Mulholland, a witness, said.

The judge sent Keith out of the courtroom, but as he left, witnesses say he stunned the courtroom when he lunged at the 12-year-old victim in this case.

"The defendant essentially lunged at his – again assuming – his victim and knocked her over backwards to the second row of the gallery and at that point it was pretty much mayhem when there's law enforcement involved and sheriffs and witnesses and victims and family members and it was just a pretty chaotic scene," Casey White, an attorney, said.

Witnesses say it all happened quickly.

"It all went in dominos and it fell back onto my mom because she was in the second row," Taylor Mulholland, a witness, said.

Sheriff William Mullen says sheriff's deputies followed proper procedures. Keith was shackled in the courtroom, but the very incident itself will require a review of all procedures.

One woman was taken to the hospital at her request. She appeared to have minor injuries.

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