Judge gunned down in court by accused rapist
A judge was gunned down in his court today by a man accused of rape, who also killed a stenographer and shot two policemen before hijacking a car and fleeing.
Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes was shot on the eighth floor of the court in Atlanta, Georgia, while one policeman was shot on a street corner just outside the building, said police spokesman Alan Osborne.
A policeman died later in hospital, while a second had minor wounds, police said.
Witnesses said the gunman, named as Brian Nichols, 33, hijacked a car and police were searching for several vehicles reported stolen in the area.
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Clarence Huber said Nichols was facing rape charges stemming from an incident in August.
“I saw one person on the street that they were performing CPR on,” said court reporter Amy McKee.
An Atlanta newspaper reporter was beaten by the suspect outside the courthouse.
All the judges in the building were locked in their chambers after the shooting.
“We heard some noise. It sounded like three or four shots. At the time, we thought it was just an engine backfiring,” said lawyer Chuck Cole, a civil defence attorney who was in an adjoining parking deck when he heard gunfire at around 9.10 a.m.
James Bailey, a juror at Nichols’ trial, said the jury was not in the courtroom at the time of the shooting.
Bailey said Nichols had made him and other jurors nervous. “Every time he looked up, he was staring at you,” Bailey said.
Judge Barnes, 64, also drew attention last month when he took the unusual step of ordering a mother of seven who pleaded guilty to killing her five-week-old daughter to undergo a medical procedure that would prevent her from having more children.
The shooting happened 11 days after the husband and elderly mother of a Chicago judge were shot dead in her home. A man whose medical malpractice lawsuit was dismissed by the judge committed suicide and left a note saying he was the killer.
