Two veteran Seattle police officers who fatally shot a 52-year-old man inside the federal courthouse on Monday should feel proud of a job well done, a police psychologist said yesterday.

Despite the loss of life, all indications are that the officers followed their training and were able to prevent a bad situation from getting worse, said Dr. Norman Mar, a Seattle psychologist who has spent much of his 30-year career treating police officers, firefighters and medics.

Still, emotions after a fatal shooting are difficult to predict and the officers could be second-guessing their actions and may even feel guilty about taking a life, he said.

For officers, defusing such situations and preventing a suspect's death, particularly in a situation where an armed person refuses to surrender, can be considered "a huge win," Mar said.

"When an officer has to use deadly force, it can be experienced as a disappointment or loss," said Mar, the Seattle Police Department's on-call psychologist. He also works with the Seattle Fire Department, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office and other local law-enforcement agencies.

Just before noon on Monday, Perry L. Manley walked into the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle. Manley, who had waged a bitter, 15-year fight over child-support payments, brought with him papers that he apparently wanted to present to a federal judge. He held in his hand a World War II-era hand grenade and wore a backpack strapped to his chest.

Instead of passing through the courthouse metal detectors, Manley inched along the ledge of a reflecting pool in an attempt to avoid security, U.S. Marshal Eric Robertson said yesterday. Manley was immediately spotted by court security officers and was kept from entering the "secure core" of the courthouse, he said.

Officers spent more than 20 minutes talking to Manley, trying to persuade him to drop the grenade and surrender. He was shot twice after making "a furtive movement with the grenade," Robertson said.

Because the grenade turned out to be inoperable, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has suggested that Manley's death could have been a case of "suicide by police."

Manley was shot by Seattle police Officers Timothy Pasternak, 46, and William Collins Jr., 40, said police spokeswoman Christie-Lynn Bonner. Both were placed on administrative leave immediately after the shooting, which is routine.

Pasternak was hired in 1987 and is a member of the department's SWAT team. Collins, a 15-year veteran of the department, is a former SWAT team member who currently works at the West Precinct, a couple blocks from the federal courthouse, Bonner said.

One officer shot Manley with a .223-caliber assault rifle and the other, with a shotgun, but Bonner couldn't say which officer used which weapon. The department is investigating to determine if the officers followed procedures and used the appropriate level of force in firing on Manley, she said. Such investigations are routine in an officer-involved shooting, she said.

Bonner declined to discuss details of the investigation.

While it is not clear whether Manley was intent on being killed by police, friends said he always carried a living will, which he brought into the courthouse. The will spells out what should be done should Manley face "terminal conditions and whether to prolong life."

From his reading of the situation, Mar said, "this guy was set from the beginning; he was acting in a very provocative way and looking to get a deadly force reaction from law enforcement."

Dr. Debra Glaser, the chief police psychologist for the Los Angeles Police Department, said, "Nobody comes to work with the desire to shoot somebody but the reality is, it may happen." Normal reactions for officers who end up taking a life include "disbelief, anger — how could somebody make me do something like that? — and sadness that somebody would be in that position" where officers have no choice but to use deadly force, she said.

After a fatal shooting, officers typically demonstrate a high degree of emotional and psychological resilience, Mar said. "Most officers will do well, and will be able to focus on a job well done that safeguarded the public. At the same time, they will be aware of things they could've done better. It's the nature of the business."

Though Robertson said officers' response "was textbook," he said there were some internal communication problems at the courthouse during the incident. "The message wasn't consistent," he said. Some of the people evacuated from the 23-story building maybe should have stayed put. Others, including a handful of court employees who rode an elevator to the lobby during the incident and had to be escorted out a side door, were caught "in between the message."

He said officials were reviewing security planning to determine where improvements could be made.

"We were able to get people out, nobody was hurt and the courthouse is open for business," Robertson said. "If the grenade had been active and detonated, had that satchel had explosives in it and detonated, there would have been far more injury and damage.

"I cringe just thinking about it," he said.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com