Judge, Officer, Court Reporter Killed, Gunman at Large
 

Full coverage on all major news networks. The Judge and a Sherrif's Deputy has been confirmed killed, a second deputy wounded, and a court reporter dead.

Gunman at Large, carjacked a Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter's car. All schools in Fulton County have been locked down.



10-7, Officer. End of Watch.

Here's a link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7157845/

Georgia Tech is in downtown ATL and the boyfriend just called to say he skipped his last class and got the hell out of there!

This is scary stuff.
It's funny, I was at a women's bar association roundtable discussion at our federal courthouse last night, spoke with several of the female judges. They all mentioned that it's a little scary for them right now, after that one judge's family was killed.

Little did they know what would happen this morning :(

I'm going to hell for having "I fought the law and the law won" playing in my head.

Very scary really.. I am at our state's largest court house almost every day -- spending most of my time on what I consider to be the most dangerous floor -- the family docket floor.

Our Court House doesn't even have metal detectors except for outside VPO hearings.

In the federal court house last night, I did have to go through the metel detector, and send my bag through the scanner, but I didn't have to sign in or show ID. I overheard another woman say that she got through the security with a knife in her bag that she had forgotten about.

Hell, the state workers compensation office here in Pittsburgh has higher security- you at least have to sign in there.

Just got done listening to the press conference by the DA and prosecutor trying him. I am shocked at some of the things coming out. He was in street clothes and NOT shackled! I think that is the overwhelming suprising fact considering two days ago they found him with TWO shanks in his socks.

My heart goes out to the families of those killed and the one injured today.

I bet this guy never makes it to trial...he will kill himself or suicide by cop rather than go back to jail.

According to the story on the link, he didn't have cuffs on because it might have prejudiced the jury.

How tragic for the victims' families.

In order to gain entrance to the Federal building and the courthouses here, we all go through intense screening -- with xray machines and scanners. Sometimes they'll even pat you down!

A few months ago I had a tweezer in my purse as I went to go pay for a parking ticket. They confiscated it -- they're just as strict as those TSA people at the airport!

What saddens me the most is the fact that this guy was unrestrained despite being found with hidden weapons the other day. Letting him go into court like that made it open season for victims.

And now all these people are dead. :(

All the major channels have had this on all day long here. I went through two road blocks today where cops were looking in cars for the guy. I know at one point they thought he might be in the Roswell area, then later in the day they thought he might be in the Smyrna/Marietta area.

Ballerina's boyfriend has sat still in his car all day on the freeway because of the roadblocks.

Raise your hand if you think he has a new car then the green honda accord?


<-----raises her hand.


We are dealing with someone who knows what he was doing. I doubt he is in the same car. Any news on the other sheriff's deputy (the one who is alive)?


I am sorry for all of those who have been stuck in traffic. Been to Atlanta. Have NO desire to be there during all of this. Traffic is ALREADY a nighmare!

Probably hiding in Appalachia by now

CAN NOT believe that after the green honda was *taken* the jackass police in Atlanta didnt secure the parking garage and search the whole thing top to bottom. Took them what 15 hours to figure out that he really didnt steal the green Honda, and they spent the whole day looking for the wrong vehicle? Dumbasses. Way to secure the scene.

Also, got to wonder why CNN is covering this like its a local news story. I know it happened across the street and stuff, but last month when the other judge was killed, it took a month for them to report it. I'm kinda dissapointed by how 'local' CNN is being.

He's not just some ghetto defendant. He was a college grad (allegedly) who did logistics for UPS. This dude is smart and not some fool you see tracked on COPS. This will be really interesting, to see how this dude is caught.

Its also intresting how Nancy Grace is reacting. Shes REAL millitant as a Prosecutor. Her fiance was murdered and she was real good friends with Judge Barns. Shes gonna be even more millitant about this now. interesting to see how this will play out...

[slight hijack]Never liked her[/slight hijack]

It is crazy how calm he looks escaping...

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/LAW/03/1...ols.garage.jpg

The area where he escaped in not the best area to be in Atlanta. The Atlanta underground has become a big mess and there were never enough cops in that area at least when it is not tourist season. I bet there will be a lot there now.

One of my friends was a juror in that very courtroom the week before. Her work place was under lockdown all afternoon.

I live 4 hrs outside of Atlanta. I hope he goes North instead of south. I'm dogsitting this weekend and have to go check on the dogs after dark. The people live way out in the country. I'm gonna be scared outta my mind tonight when I have to go out there.

My bet is since the guy doesn't have the green honda, he has another car w/ a hostage in it since no one has reported any other missing cars.

I heard about this at midnight last night which makes me kind of scared.....I was in Atlanta all day yesterday job hunting.

They have so many cops looking for this guy.....the boyfriend's best friend's dad is an officer in Morgan County and they even have THEM up there. It's crazy.

I agree, it will be very interesting to see how he is caught. I have a feeling this may be another Eric Randolph case.

Not to burst any bubbles, but that might not have anything to do with it. One of the towns I lived in during HS was 2,000 people in a county of 6,000. When a guy from Virginia shot the sheriff's deputy and fled into the cornfields we had officers from 5 Iowa counties and 2 Minnesota counties assisting in the search.

ATLANTA - Police searching for a man suspected in a courthouse triple slaying said a U.S. customs agent was discovered shot to death in north Atlanta on Saturday, and his blue pickup truck, pistol and badge were missing.

Officials were trying to determine if the slaying was related to the courthouse rampage Friday. The body was found in the area where suspect Brian Nichols used to live.


"We don't know if this is the same suspect," Fulton County Police deputy Chief G.D. Stiles said. "Whoever is driving this pickup truck is a cop killer."



http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...house_shooting

So I wonder if we have two cop killers now or it is the same guy.

Is anyone else unsettled by the fact that a man going to trial for rape, who had a prior history of courtroom violence, was being escorted by a sole female deputy?

He didn't make it past his first year at Kutztown. Also, the judge had asked for extra protection just the day before. :( God bless those who were killed, may the Lord comfort their families.

I can't believe that this happened at what, 9am Friday, and he didn't even get out of the Perimeter, even with a customs official's ID. Did he expect to hide out until the heat was off, or is he really much dumber than he was given credit for being?

That was my first thought.

Also, I can somewhat understand that he wasn't shackled, but no handcuffs?! That's unexcusable!!

No handcuffs? For real?

Where I was a PD, every defendant in custody wore a bright orange uniform and had handcuffs attached to a chain around his or her waist. Only the inmates from the Department of Corrections (the people brought over from a prison, not the county jail) wore shackles on their ankles as well and they were usually escorted by two deputies the whole time.

I don't know how things work in Atlanta, but in all the courthouses I've seen, the inmates are kept in a lockup between courtrooms when they're brought over for court. They come up a locked elevator and stay in locked holding cells, and then have to go through a locked door to get into the courtroom. Apparently this isn't the case everywhere -- on the local news last night, they showed the Denver courthouse and it appeared that they escort inmates through the regular hallways, which is something I've never seen. Maybe older courts don't have the behind the scenes lockup system.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...house_shooting

Police Capture Atlanta Slayings Suspect
10 minutes ago
By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - A man accused of killing three people at a courthouse was captured Saturday at an apartment complex hours after a U.S. Customs agent was discovered shot to death miles away, officials said.

Brian Nichols, 33, was captured after a daylong manhunt following the killing of a judge and two other people at a downtown courthouse, Glenn Richardson, speaker of the Georgia House, announced on the House floor.

Police searching for Nichols said a Customs agent was discovered shot to death in north Atlanta on Saturday, and his blue pickup truck, pistol and badge were missing.

A black sports utility vehicle, escorted by multiple police cars with lights flashing and sirens on, left the complex at about 11:45 a.m. A crowd of people across the street began cheering as the motorcade passed.

Yah that was pretty stupid. They are blaming it on budget cuts on not having more help with the escort. Sad it took this to make things change but I am sure things will be tighter now. GA lawmakers are already talking about making a law were females can only escort females. They argue a 220 pound guy will win over a 120 pound female almost everytime.

well if you dont put the damn handcuffs on him, sure.

Looks like he did kill that customs agent, they found his truck at the apartment where they captured the guy. That is why the FBI has him in custody. He will likely be tried for killing a federal officer, before he ever gets to reach state court for killing the judge, deputy, and court clerk.

I'm surprised that he didn't hightail it to the state border of either S. Carolina, N.Carolina, Florida, Alabama or Tennessee. It would make it a lot more difficult to find him once he crossed state lines. Instead, he stays in the Atlanta area. Either he's dumb for hiding in ATL or really smart for eluding the police for a while when he was somewhere in their radius.

I'm surprised that something that's common knowledge (that a 220 pound male has more physical power than a 120 pound woman) didn't occur to GA lawmakers until this incident.

some of the TV news says the death toll is 5 or 6 counting a shooting at a mall and somewhere else.

Guess they didn't want any equal rights lawsuits?

FWIW, this is about the court reporter who was killed:

[Julie]"Brandau was born in Moncks Corner, S.C. She is survived by an 18-year-old daughter who is a freshman at Auburn University in Alabama."

I wonder if her daughter is in a GLO, and if so, how we can help her?

Why is ANYONE allowed to have guns in the courthouse?

In Pittsburgh, the sheriffs and police enter through a separate entrance and put their weapons in lockers until they're done with their business in the courthouse.

I don't think that the "protection" that guns offer the staff of the courthouse outweighs the potential threat.

*nod* nothing a gun can do in a courthouse that a tazer/stun-gun can't do, cept kill people.

around here, there's a REALLY big push lately for the use of tazer/stun guns

This is a wierd case. I mean he straight out murdered two people in the court house and killed another cop getting away.

Then I saw that he was on trial for a violent rape and it made me wonder why he was so lightly guarded.

But here is a different tangent. He was already tried for the rape and it was a hung jury, 8-4 in his favor.

Also, the rape was allegedly of his GF that was breaking up with him.

So this was a retrial where the prosecution seemed to be much more successful.

He had no criminal record. He was educated, had a good job.

The one question that never seems to be asked on TV was how much time he was facing and whether that may very well have been the motivation for him to break out like this.

He was probbaly facing 20 years in prison. If he didn't commit the original crime I can see how he wouldn't want to go to jail for life.

Read a few minutes ago that the suspect has been caught in the Atlanta area. There may have been a hostage, who was released. An Immigration agent was found dead in the same apartment complex -- apparently another victim.

The story I saw said the fugitive literally waved a white flag -- or tee shirt -- and surrendered.

He is now in Federal custody.

I am surprised he surrendered so easily. With the amount of violence he spread yesterday....It is strange thathe would give up like that.

I too am also suprised that he didn't make it out of Atlanta. I figured he would have carjacked another car and headed out of the state.

My boyfriend thinks that the so-called hostage situation, was him at a friend's who later turned him in.

The most important part...he is in jail, they won't take him for granted anymore (if they have learned his lesson), and he is going to get the book thrown at him!