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| Sheriff report released in court shooting |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/08/2005 |
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A Fulton County (Ga.) Sheriff's Department report on a deadly courthouse rampage said the suspect was able to enter the chambers of the judge slain in the attack and hold the occupants hostage because the door was unlocked and a buzzer entry system was not activated. A portion of the report on last month's attack, which left a judge and three others dead, was released Thursday. A judge was expected to decide Friday whether to release the rest of the report. After handcuffing a lawyer, deputy and an unspecified number of other people, suspect Brian Nichols entered the courtroom where his rape trial was to resume later in the day and killed Judge Rowland Barnes and his court reporter, the report says. "We understand there was a practice of the door being left open," Michael Cooke, chief deputy of the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, said at a news conference. The report on the March 11 attack at a downtown courthouse also says that it took a court officer 21 minutes to reach a deputy whom Nichols allegedly overpowered and stole her gun in order to start the killing spree. Outside the courthouse, a sheriff's deputy was killed and a federal agent was killed elsewhere. Despite the report, Cooke said, "There was no lapse in response time. Period." The 15 pages of the report that were released Thursday following a court order include a timeline of the attack, an incident narrative and an executive summary. Witness statements, which make up the bulk of the report, remained sealed. The sheriff's department, responsible for security at the courthouse, has been widely criticized for its handling of Nichols, who was unshackled at the time of the attack and had previously been caught with homemade knives hidden in his shoes. |
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