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Three shot dead at Atlanta trial; gunman flees
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-12 08:57
A man being escorted into court for his rape trial Friday stole a deputy's
gun, killed the judge and two other people and carjacked a reporter's vehicle to
escape, setting off a massive manhunt and creating widespread chaos across
Atlanta, police said.
Hundreds of officers in cruisers and helicopters swarmed the area in the
search of the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Brian Nichols. The former
computer technician had been on trial for rape, burglary and other charges
stemming from an August incident involving an ex-girlfriend.
An F.B.I. agent closes the back doors to a
vehicle as a group of agents loaded up at an Atlanta shopping center,
Friday, March 11, 2005, to join the search for Brian Nichols, the suspect
in the shooting of Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, his clerk and a
Fulton County Deputy. Nichols was on trial for rape in the courthouse.
[AP] |
The rampage led to chaos around the city, with schools, restaurants and
office buildings locking down amid fears that the suspect might strike again.
Nichols' mug shot was plastered all over TV screens, and highway message boards
issued descriptions of the stolen vehicle.
"Mr. Nichols is considered armed and extremely dangerous and should not be
approached," Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said. "We are not going to rest
until we find him."
Nichols got the gun by overpowering the female deputy while he was being led
down a corridor in the Fulton County Courthouse, Assistant Police Chief Alan
Dreher said. After shooting the deputy in the face, the suspect then went to the
courtroom, held about a dozen people at bay for a short time and shot and killed
the judge and a court reporter, he said.
Another deputy was later killed outside the Atlanta courthouse when he
confronted the suspect, Dreher said. The deputy shot while leading Nichols to
court survived, but details about her condition were not immediately known.
Authorities said Nichols then pistol-whipped a reporter for The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, stole his green 1997 Honda Accord and sped away.
"When he had the gun in my face, you start to think, `How can I stay alive.'
I thought this was a routine carjack. I didn't know two people other were
killed," said Don O'Briant, a features writer for the paper.
Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor confirmed that Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and
his court reporter were among the dead.
The shootings occurred after the judge and prosecutors had requested extra
security for deputies after investigators found a shank in each of Nichols'
shoes Thursday, prosecutor Gayle Abramson said. She said Nichols apparently
fashioned the shanks from a door knob.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he did not know what exactly
was done in the way of stepped-up security, but said the deputies were receptive
to their request. Dreher said that there were no other officers other than the
female deputy assisting with taking Nichols to court. The law requires that
defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure
the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury.
The shootings occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Friday — the fourth day of
Nichols' trial. Nichols had been facing a re-trial on charges of rape, sodomy,
burglary, and false imprisonment, among others, after his earlier trial ended in
a hung jury a week ago.
"I think he probably realized ... he might be convicted this time, he might
not have a chance to walk out," Howard said. "We believe he came here with the
intent to make sure that didn't happen."
In the rape case, Nichols was accused of bursting into his ex-girlfriend's
home, binding her with duct tape and sexually assaulting her over three days.
Howard said Nichols brought a loaded machine gun into the home and a cooler with
food in case he was hungry.
Nichols, who had been jailed for the last six months, had faced a possible
life prison sentence if convicted for rape.
Nichols' last known job was working as a computer technician for a subsidiary
of Atlanta-based shipping giant UPS. Company spokesman Norm Black says Nichols
joined the unit in March 2004 and left in September 2004, which was when he was
arrested.
More than 100 state troopers and officers from several agencies, including
the FBI, were assisting in the search, but there were few leads, said G.D.
Stiles, a Fulton County deputy chief. Offers of help from officers on their days
off were pouring in.
Telephone and e-mail requests for comment to Nichols' attorney, Barry M.
Hazen, were not immediately returned Friday.
Barnes was known for his personable approach to justice and his sense of
humor, and members of Georgia's legal community expressed shock by the news.
Among the recent cases that Barnes handled was the sentencing of Atlanta
Thrashers player Dany Heatley, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the
death of a teammate.
Barnes, 64, also drew national attention last month when he approved a plea
deal that required a mother of seven who pleaded guilty to killing her
5-week-old daughter to have a medical procedure that would prevent her from
having more children.
"We're shook to the core," said Linda Dreyer, a longtime employee in the
court administrator's office who knew Barnes.
"This is a profound shock. It's so unthinkable, it's like a 9-11 at the
courthouse," said fellow Judge Craig Schwall.
James Bailey, a juror at Nichols' trial, said the jury was not in the
courtroom at the time of the shooting. He said Nichols had made him and other
jurors nervous. "Every time he looked up, he was staring at you," Bailey said.
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