This morning a little after nine a.m., a suspect in a violent rape/battery case had to appear at the Fulton County courthouse on Pryor Street, which is a couple of blocks south from me. The criminal snatched a deputy's gun, shot a Superior Court judge (Rowland Barnes), two sheriff's deputies and a court reporter. Our Lieutenant Governor, Mark Taylor, has confirmed that Judge Barnes and his court reporter are dead; based on what I saw on television, the deputy who got shot in the head is dead too - but authorities haven't confirmed that. The other deputy was shot in the chest and is at Grady Hospital.
Then the guy, Brian Nichols, ran out of the courtroom onto MLK, at a point of that street I drive past daily, pistol-whipped an AJC reporter and stole his car, a gray Mercury Sable. He then carjacked at least 3 other vehicles along his route, including one at Centennial Olympic Park - where my salesweasel and I eat lunch if the weather's nice. From up here on the 10th floor, we've watched portions of the high-speed chase as it wound down Cone Street, the street I drive down to get to my parking deck directly across from my office, up past the Georgia Pacific building which is across Peachtree Street from me.
It's scary in itself but especially so for me because I have lots of friends who are lawyers, paralegals, law enforcement - who might be at that courthouse on any given day. My boss's wife was a successful attorney before becoming a stay-at-home mom so a lot of their friends (and mine by proxy) are attorneys and judges so that's even more people I know. Thus far, I've only gotten in touch with 4 - 5 of them to hear firsthand that they are in their offices/homes/elsewhere and safe.
The courthouse is apparently in lockdown right now. The Law is blocking off the major streets downtown, like Mitchell, Central, Broad and MLK, including Forsyth which backs up to my building. The guy has carjacked five vehicles so far, the latest a green Isuzu trooper. I don't know if we'll even be able to get out of the downtown area because so many streets are blocked. I guess they'll have to have some checkpoints to let us through.
Helicopters, sirens and law are everywhere. Downtown is like a mini war zone. Holy shit.
Then the guy, Brian Nichols, ran out of the courtroom onto MLK, at a point of that street I drive past daily, pistol-whipped an AJC reporter and stole his car, a gray Mercury Sable. He then carjacked at least 3 other vehicles along his route, including one at Centennial Olympic Park - where my salesweasel and I eat lunch if the weather's nice. From up here on the 10th floor, we've watched portions of the high-speed chase as it wound down Cone Street, the street I drive down to get to my parking deck directly across from my office, up past the Georgia Pacific building which is across Peachtree Street from me.
It's scary in itself but especially so for me because I have lots of friends who are lawyers, paralegals, law enforcement - who might be at that courthouse on any given day. My boss's wife was a successful attorney before becoming a stay-at-home mom so a lot of their friends (and mine by proxy) are attorneys and judges so that's even more people I know. Thus far, I've only gotten in touch with 4 - 5 of them to hear firsthand that they are in their offices/homes/elsewhere and safe.
The courthouse is apparently in lockdown right now. The Law is blocking off the major streets downtown, like Mitchell, Central, Broad and MLK, including Forsyth which backs up to my building. The guy has carjacked five vehicles so far, the latest a green Isuzu trooper. I don't know if we'll even be able to get out of the downtown area because so many streets are blocked. I guess they'll have to have some checkpoints to let us through.
Helicopters, sirens and law are everywhere. Downtown is like a mini war zone. Holy shit.
4 Comments:
I was out of town most of the day, but on driving out and back, the sign boards on the interstates advertized for a police suspect in a green Honda Accord (I think). It gave the license plate number, too. Do you know if that was an attempt to find him?
I'm sorry to hear about the injuries and deaths, too, even though I'm incredibly *un*likely to know anyone in law enforcement (except, perhaps, in an ambassadorial role... :-). I still think it sucks whenever anyone gets hurt.
:-) L
By
Anonymous, at 12:49 AM
Yeah, the green Accord was his last "known" theived vehicle, but personally I doubt he was still in it at that point. He'd jacked so many cars so quickly, it's hard to imagine him hanging on to one that had been subjected to such media blitz.
And hey, one of those lawyer buds (that was a pun) rocks the ganje daily. In the words of the immortal Chuck Berry, "It goes to show you never can tell".
By
Helly, at 8:42 AM
When we heard it on the news, I thought of you and Nancy and wondered how close you were. SCARY!
By
Kristal, at 11:50 PM
Thanks for thinking of us, Kristal! Athens (Nancy) is probably 70, 75 miles from this part of downtown. I live in a suburb well outside the area but my office is right in the thick of things. Gwinnett County, where he was finally arrested, is kinda between Atlanta & Athens. My dear friend Cheryl lives in Gwinnett; her old apartment isn't far from where they caught Nichols. She just moved in December and her house is a little more removed. AND in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution there is a picture of Cheryl's honey at the bust. (To clarify, he's one of the Federal agents, not the perp.)
By
Helly, at 8:15 AM
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