What is up with people these days???

**booker'sbaby24** · 03-11-2005, 11:01 AM

I just learned about this, how awful. Our Kentucky wildcats are at the Georgia Dome tonite playing Tennessee. Our local anchors informed us about this at noon!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7157845/?GT1=6305

**Advertisement** · 03-11-2005 11:01 AM

**fatesfaery** · 03-11-2005, 11:31 AM

We've been watching this on the news all day.
I'm sure the guy across the street is loving it and afraid to leave the house....he drives a green Isuzu Trooper.

from wsbtv.com

JUDGE, 2 OTHERS SLAIN AT COURTHOUSE
Shooting Prompts Lockdown of Downtown Atlanta Buildings

POSTED: 9:29 am EST March 11, 2005
UPDATED: 1:57 pm EST March 11, 2005

ATLANTA -- A Fulton County judge, a sheriff's deputy and a court reporter were shot and killed and another deputy critically wounded Friday at the courthouse before the gunman fled from the scene and carjacked a motorist.

Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, a female court reporter and a sheriff's deputy were pronounced dead after they were transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Police were conducting a massive search for the suspect, who fled in a vehicle believed to have been a green Honda Accord, after the 9 a.m. incident. Sheriff's Lt. Clarence Huber identified the suspect as Brian Nichols, 33.
Grady physician Dr. Jeffrey Salomone said two deputies were rushed to Grady for treatment, but one, who suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen, later died.

At a news conference outside the hospital, Salomone said the second deputy, who suffered a gunshot wound to the mouth, was in critical condition.

He said, however, that the female deputy was expected to survive her wounds. Authorities declined to identify any of the other victims, pending notification of next of kin.

A reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was also injured during the incident.

Authorities said the reporter, identified as Don O'Briant, was pistol-whipped and assaulted during an attempted carjacking while the suspect was trying to get away.

The AJC reporter, who was attacked as he was arriving to work, was taken to a metro area hospital, where he was listed in good condition, newspaper spokeswoman Mary Dugenske said.

The suspect fled from the scene in a vehicle.

Police issued a lookout for two vehicles: a green Honda Accord with a tag of 6584 YN and a green Isuzu Trooper with a tag of 4697 AJY.

At least one courthouse worker said the suspect grabbed a gun from the deputy inside the courthouse before opening fire.

But Sheriff Myron Freeman said how the man got the gun was under investigation. The incident occurred shortly after 9 a.m. at the courthouse, located in downtown Atlanta.

The suspect then fled to a nearby parking garage and attempted to carjack two people. A shootout with a second deputy, who was wounded, ensued on the street.

The assailant managed to get a vehicle from a third motorist before leaving the area.

Police have shut down several streets in the area while they looked for the suspect. No one was allowed to enter or exit the courthouse buildings, which sit on a two-block site in downtown Atlanta. The area reopened Friday afternoon.

An attorney who witnessed this morning's shooting told Channel 2 Action News that Barnes was hearing a rape case involving Nichols at the time of the shooting.

Fulton prosecutor Gayle Abramson told the AJC that Nichols was appearing before Barnes in the retrial of a rape case. Nichols was accused of going to his ex-girlfriend's apartment in North Fulton and holding her hostage for hours during which he repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

County employee Ali Lamei, who works on a floor below where the shooting started, said he was told by officers in the building that a sheriff's sergeant was escorting a prisoner into Barnes' courtroom when the prisoner grabbed the sergeant's gun and shot the judge and sergeant.

James Bailey, a juror in the Nichols trial, said the jury was not in the courtroom at the time of the shooting.

Nichols, who also faced charges of sodomy, possession of a machine gun, possession of a handgun, and possession of marijuana, had not taken the stand yet in the trial, which started Tuesday.

Renee Rockwall said she was outside the courthouse when the incident happened. She said she saw a deputy chasing the suspect when the gunman turned and opened fire, wounding the deputy.

Sheriff Freeman said during a news conference outside Grady that Nichols is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous. Anyone with information was asked to call 404-730-5129 or call 911.

"This is a very sad day for Fulton County," Freeman said. "We're going to do everything we can to bring this person to justice."

News of the shooting shocked those who knew Barnes, described as a fair judge who was well-liked.

Among the recent cases that Judge 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 took the unusual step of ordering 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.

Barnes was named to the Fulton County Superior Court bench on July 10, 1998. He also worked as a part-time Fulton County Magistrate and City Court Judge in Hapeville and Fairburn. Barnes was a 1972 graduate of Emory Law School in Atlanta and a graduate of Lebanon Valley College

wsbtv.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles and Channel 2 Action News reporters Ross Cavitt, Alan Wang and Dale Cardwell contributed to this report.

Copyright 2005 by WSBTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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**Tasha405** · 03-11-2005, 12:09 PM

I've been watching this on the news, off and on today. Have they caught the man who did this yet? I haven't checked the news in a while.

**fatesfaery** · 03-11-2005, 12:36 PM

There are areas in the Atlanta Metro area (places he's lived or has family) that are crawling with police, but they haven't caught him yet.
I'm not sure they even have all the details of what happened, every channel seems to be giving different details and different versions.
They seem reasonably sure now that the car they are looking for is the Honda Accord that he carjacked from the Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter in the parking garage.

They said that on Wed. they found a door hinge and a gun magazine in his shoe....I can't imagine why that wouldn't have been enough for them to place him in chains during court appearances.

**BigLyd1** · 03-11-2005, 12:36 PM

I hope that they catch the person who did this soon and I won't say what I want them to do when they find him.

I hope this isn't a sick trend that is starting.

**adorkablex** · 03-12-2005, 10:22 AM

Thankfully, they found him this morning.

He killed someone else sometime yesterday or last night or even this morning though. A custom's agent.

Scarey thing is.. they found him like 15 minutes from where we live.

**adorkablex** · 03-12-2005, 10:25 AM

DULUTH, GA. (AP) - A rape suspect accused of shooting a judge and two others at a courthouse was captured Saturday after a day on the lam in which he allegedly killed an immigration agent, stole his truck and took a woman hostage, officials said.

"Brian Nichols is in custody," said Officer Darren Moloney of the Gwinnett County Police Department. "Everybody is safe."

Moloney said Nichols, 33, was armed and had a female hostage when he was caught at a suburban apartment complex. The woman was not identified by authorities, and it was unclear what relationship she had with Nichols.

FBI Spokesman Steve Lazarus said Nichols is a suspect in the courthouse shootings and the fatal shooting of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent found dead early Saturday.

The agent, identified as David Wilhelm, was discovered shot to death at an upscale townhouse complex, and his blue pickup truck, pistol and badge were missing.

Authorities could not immediately confirm reports that the truck was found with Nichols, who was taken into federal custody.

After Nichols' arrest, a crowd of people across the street from the apartment complex cheered as a black sports utility vehicle drove away, escorted by multiple police cars with lights flashing and sirens on.

The courthouse shootings Friday set off a massive manhunt and created widespread chaos across Atlanta, where schools, restaurants and office buildings locked down amid fears that the suspect might strike again.

Nichols was being escorted to his retrial on rape and other charges Friday when he allegedly overpowered a court deputy, taking her gun, before killing three people: the judge presiding over his case, a court reporter and a deputy who confronted him as he escaped the courthouse.

The deputy from whom he stole the gun, Cynthia Hall, remained in critical condition Saturday.

He then allegedly pistolwhipped Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Don O'Briant and stole his car. Throughout Friday, police said they were looking for the reporter's green Honda Accord, and highway message boards across the state issued descriptions of the vehicle.

But later that night, the car was found in the parking garage where Nichols stole it. Police said Nichols attempted more hijackings, and it was suspected that Nichols had stolen another vehicle from the same parking garage.

Surveillance tape showed him going to the garage's lowest level, wearing a jacket that CNN said belonged to O'Briant. Authorities would not comment on whether Wilhelm may have been carjacked at the garage.

Ned Cronan, 73, who lives across the street from where authorities found Wilhelm's body, said he got up three times during the night and looked out the window. The only sign of trouble he saw was a police car about 7 a.m.

Cronan said he's heard gunshots in the area before, but none Friday night or Saturday morning.

"I don't think they killed him there," he said.

O'Briant wrote in Saturday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had just parked his car when a young man pulled beside him and asked for directions to a nearby mall. Before O'Briant could oblige, the man pulled a gun and said, "Give me your keys or I'll kill you," then told him to get in the trunk.

O'Briant refused and started to run.

"I figured it was better to be shot at while I was running than to just stand there and be executed," O'Briant wrote.

The man pistol whipped him as he tried to escape. O'Briant fell, but got up and ran again.

"I scrambled into the street, waiting for the shots to come, but they didn't come," he wrote. "I guess it just wasn't my day to die."

On Friday, carloads of law enforcement officers in riot gear swarmed the buildings and parking lots surrounding the north Atlanta condominiums where Nichols once lived, residents said.

"I've just kept my doors locked," said James Spice, 18, whose home is around the corner. "I always lock up, but I'm just making sure. My mom called and told me to."

At the state Capitol, just down the street from the site of the shooting, flags flew at half-staff as lawmakers prepared for a rare Saturday session. Legislative leaders had considered canceling their weekend "family day," after the shooting, but decided to go ahead with it. Speaker of House Glenn Richardson announced Nichols' arrest to lawmakers on the floor.

The killings came less than two weeks after a Chicago federal judge's husband and mother were slain in their home and set off a fresh round of worries about the safety of judges, prosecutors and others involved in the criminal justice system.

On Thursday, the judge and prosecutors in Nichols' case requested extra security after investigators found a shank - or homemade knife - fashioned from a doorknob in each of Nichols' shoes, prosecutor Gayle Abramson said.

District Attorney Paul Howard did not say what measures were taken to beef up security, but Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said no other officers assisted Hall with taking Nichols to court.

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. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said Nichols brought a loaded machine gun into the home and a cooler with food in case he was hungry.

Nichols had been dating the woman for eight years, and she tried to break up with him after he got another woman pregnant, Hazen said. Though he is accused of imprisoning the woman and raping her, Hazen said his client claims she invited him over and they had consensual sex.

Nichols faced a possible life sentence if convicted in his retrial on charges of rape, sodomy, burglary, and false imprisonment, among others. His earlier trial was declared a mistrial on Monday when jurors voted 8-4 for acquittal.

"My guts tell me he faced a greater chance of conviction in the second trial," his attorney, Barry Hazen, told a local television station.

Prosecutor Gayle Abramson said she believes Nichols, who had been jailed since Aug. 23, was certain he would be convicted and was willing to kill to avoid it.

Hazen described his client as a "big, strong guy" with a laid-back personality.

"Even the larger deputies I don't think would be any match for Brian Nichols," Hazen said

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