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(Atlanta) Police missed early chance (to get Nichols; Keystone Kops strike again)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 3.15.05 | BILL TORPY, STACY SHELTON

Posted on 03/15/2005 8:03:13 AM PST by mhking

Police apparently missed an opportunity to trap Brian G. Nichols in a downtown parking garage just minutes after Friday's courthouse shooting spree — the first of several lost chances to catch him that day.

Two attendants at Five Points Garage said they heard a sport utility vehicle driven by Nichols smash through the gate and screech into the garage. Atlanta police units were just seconds behind.

The attendants said they twice tried to show officers how to block the only exits from the garage at Wall and Peachtree streets, three blocks from the Fulton County Courthouse. Instead, a motorcycle officer and two squad cars sped into the structure after Nichols, leaving no one to watch for him at street level.

Seconds later, Nichols calmly walked down a stairwell and out of the garage with two handguns tucked in his pants, the attendants said Monday. "He kept looking back to the steps," said attendant Frank Holston. A second attendant confirmed the story but would not give his name.

Police asked, " 'Which way did he go?' " Holston recalled.

"I told them this is the only way he can get out, down here, but they didn't listen. They could have gotten him here, but they didn't. All of them went up behind him."

Atlanta police spokesman John Quigley said he was unaware of the exchange but said the department would review its actions at the garage.

The attendants said they had not been questioned by police as of Monday.

Police were chasing Nichols, who was being tried on rape charges, after Friday morning's shooting spree that left a judge, a court reporter and a sheriff's deputy dead. As he escaped from Five Points Garage, Nichols allegedly hijacked a tow truck on Peachtree Street. Within minutes, he allegedly carjacked at least two more vehicles, pistol-whipping one car's owner. More than 12 hours later, authorities say, he pistol-whipped another man and shot to death a federal agent.

Busy hunting for green car

The day was marked by a series of close calls and missed opportunities for police in their desperate search for a dangerous suspect.

Authorities were thrown off the trail for most of the day when they started looking for a green Honda Accord that was stolen from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter. More than 12 hours later, police learned the car had never left the parking garage across from CNN Center.

Nichols then most likely boarded MARTA at the CNN Center transit station, police said. He probably traveled one stop east to the Five Points station and then took the North Line to the Lenox station, police said.

As Nichols apparently was catching the train, MARTA police were being pulled from the Five Points station to respond to the emergency at the courthouse, transit police said.

Two hours later, at 11:31 a.m., Atlanta and MARTA police received a report that a man matching Nichols' description — wearing a blue blazer and no shirt — was walking near Lenox Squaremall, said MARTA Police Chief Gene Wilson. Police canvassed the area without success.

Wilson, whose transit police were assisting Atlanta police, now believes it was Nichols near the mall. "With the information we have now it looks like a damn good lead," Wilson said.

But police did not dwell on the Lenox area. "Again, we're thinking he's in a car miles away."

Nearly 11 hours later, shortly after 10 p.m., Nichols allegedly held a woman at gunpoint and pistol-whipped her boyfriend at a Lenox Road apartment one block south of the mall. Police responded and a report says the couple and a third person believed the attacker was Nichols but were not sure.

Quigley said several more Atlanta police and federal agents converged on the scene and remained until about midnight.

The next morning, the body of federal customs agent David Wilhelm was found shot to death in a home he owned. It was a block away from the Lenox Road apartment. Wilhelm's pickup truck was stolen and driven to Gwinnett County, where Nichols allegedly held hostage a woman at about 2 a.m. He surrendered the next morning in her apartment.

Who was in charge?

It is still unclear which law enforcement agency was in charge of the manhunt. Quigley said Atlanta police "were the lead agency in investigating the homicide," but he stopped short of saying the department was coordinating the search for Nichols.

Quigley acknowledged that the manhunt was led astray by the assumption that Nichols had fled in a green Honda. "Obviously, we were duped," he said.

The Honda was found more than 12 hours later on a lower level of the garage. Police then looked at security videotape to discover Nichols had walked out — wearing a stolen blue blazer.

Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington has said that police "were not thorough" in canvassing the garage where the Honda was parked. The department was chasing reports of carjackings, which stopped at the garage.

"No one else reported a car taken — he was taking cars," Quigley said. They didn't think to look for him on foot. "Once you look through a different prism you see other things," Quigley said. "You broaden your spectrum and are open to other alternatives.

"At the same time, we're getting hundreds and hundreds of tips and we're chasing them."

He said Pennington has said "he will go back and review how things transpired. You can always improve things."

— Staff writer Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: briannichols
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To: mhking
Jealous of Brian Nichols, Michael? That is not surprising. He is smart and good-looking. You are, to put it mildly, not. Unfortunately for Nichols, he has engaged in criminal behavior that will justly deprive him of his freedom. So, you, a person who couldn't hold a candle to Brian Nichols under normal circumstances, can now post entries like this one attacking him. Sour grapes indeed.

The ignorance on this thread is appalling . . . but sometimes amusing. The person who called the Atlanta district attorney a "maroon" cracked me up. The one confusing "Rambo" with reality is also unintentionally comic. If stupidity was a crime. . . .

61 posted on 03/16/2005 1:17:00 AM PST by Jemima Gaines (Because someone should tell the truth.)
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To: Jemima Gaines; Owl_Eagle

You have got to be kidding me.


62 posted on 03/16/2005 6:14:35 AM PST by Sam's Army (No witty taglines currently come to mind)
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To: Jemima Gaines; Sam's Army
This has got to be the dumbest post I've ever read. 
I'd heard that some women idolize criminals, it fulfills some bizarre mental shortcoming they're wracked with.  You seem to be one of those.
 
How is Brian Nichols "smart"?  Everyone outside of his family always said he was "a bad dude", "trouble" or an "animal".
 
So, was Brian a friend of yours?
 
 
Owl_Eagle

"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in.  I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"

-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)

63 posted on 03/16/2005 6:39:06 AM PST by End Times Sentinel (Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts. "Aww. not even a little?")
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To: Owl_Eagle
Yeah. All the sympathy for the criminal, not a word about the 4 victims.

Pathetic.

64 posted on 03/16/2005 6:52:29 AM PST by Sam's Army (No witty taglines currently come to mind)
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To: dighton; aculeus; BlueLancer; Constitution Day; mhking; hellinahandcart

Check out the posting history on #61.


65 posted on 03/16/2005 7:31:58 AM PST by general_re ("Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith, but in doubt." - Reinhold Niebuhr)
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To: Jemima Gaines; Admin Moderator; Zavien Doombringer; 4mycountry; Constitution Day; VRWCmember; ...
Jealous of Brian Nichols, Michael? That is not surprising. He is smart and good-looking. You are, to put it mildly, not. Unfortunately for Nichols, he has engaged in criminal behavior that will justly deprive him of his freedom. So, you, a person who couldn't hold a candle to Brian Nichols under normal circumstances, can now post entries like this one attacking him. Sour grapes indeed.

The ignorance on this thread is appalling . . . but sometimes amusing. The person who called the Atlanta district attorney a "maroon" cracked me up. The one confusing "Rambo" with reality is also unintentionally comic. If stupidity was a crime. . . .

My looks are immaterial -- especially when it comes to a predator like Nichols. I have to wonder about you if you're such a shallow troll as to worry about what I look like versus Nichols, or anyone else for that matter.

And as for the "ignorance on this thread," as you put it, are you trying to say that anyone who disagrees with your liberal point of view is "ignorant" and "stupid?"

You have spent the past two months trolling on various threads here, doing just enough to keep from getting tossed out on your moronic ass.

If you have something constructive to contribute to the conversation here, then you are welcome. However, your past history, along with this post belie that, and indicate that you are more interested in tossing bricks and calling people names.

Admin Moderator: I'd dare say that we have a troll in our midst who would do far better to post elsewhere.

Thank you.

66 posted on 03/16/2005 7:39:27 AM PST by mhking (Do not mess with dragons, for thou art crunchy & good with ketchup...)
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To: Jemima Gaines

Say goodbye, troll.


67 posted on 03/16/2005 7:43:14 AM PST by Darksheare (I need to keep painting my wall red or the thing living in it will get out and get us all.)
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To: Jemima Gaines

You're ugly and your mother dresses you funny.


68 posted on 03/16/2005 7:46:00 AM PST by TheBigB ("This is Sky Captain...I'm on my way!")
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To: Jemima Gaines
You are, to put it mildly, not.

And you, my dear, are up for the zot.

69 posted on 03/16/2005 7:46:05 AM PST by Admin Moderator
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To: general_re

Wow. Our radar needs some work.


70 posted on 03/16/2005 7:47:26 AM PST by hellinahandcart
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To: hellinahandcart; general_re

Naah, this one stayed quiet for a bit before a few days ago, or so it appears.


71 posted on 03/16/2005 7:55:40 AM PST by Darksheare (I need to keep painting my wall red or the thing living in it will get out and get us all.)
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To: mhking

You ok Mike?


72 posted on 03/16/2005 8:05:34 AM PST by Dog
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To: Darksheare; hellinahandcart; Robert Drobot
Yeah, I missed this one too, and I can't really take credit for it now either - Robert Drobot threw up a red flag here, and that's when I started poking around myself.
73 posted on 03/16/2005 8:18:15 AM PST by general_re ("Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith, but in doubt." - Reinhold Niebuhr)
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To: Dog
You ok Mike?

Of course.

74 posted on 03/16/2005 8:22:06 AM PST by mhking (Do not mess with dragons, for thou art crunchy & good with ketchup...)
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To: Admin Moderator
And you, my dear, are up for the zot.

Much obliged, m'FRiend...

75 posted on 03/16/2005 8:23:18 AM PST by mhking (Do not mess with dragons, for thou art crunchy & good with ketchup...)
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To: Jemima Gaines
Bye Bye Jemima.

Sheesh what an idiot. wait.......

That's more fitting this occasion!!

76 posted on 03/16/2005 8:23:36 AM PST by WestCoastGal ("The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.")
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To: Jemima Gaines
I was considering responding seriously to your post, but then came to my senses. In this case, a picture outvalues ten-thousand words:

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

77 posted on 03/16/2005 8:23:45 AM PST by King Prout (Remember John Adam!)
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To: Admin Moderator; dighton; general_re; hellinahandcart; Darksheare; mhking
You are, to put it mildly, not.

And you, my dear, are up for the zot.

I did not know it.

Today's AM is a poet!

78 posted on 03/16/2005 8:25:11 AM PST by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
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To: general_re

Same here.


79 posted on 03/16/2005 8:28:47 AM PST by Darksheare (I need to keep painting my wall red or the thing living in it will get out and get us all.)
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To: aculeus

Sneaky too!
Ninja Mod strikes again!


80 posted on 03/16/2005 8:30:38 AM PST by Darksheare (I need to keep painting my wall red or the thing living in it will get out and get us all.)
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