Atlanta courthouse employees mark anniversary of shootings

<p>It's hard for Shelia Willis to come to work every day in the same courthouse complex where three people were gunned down, but she made sure to be there Friday to reflect on the one-year anniversary of the deadly rampage.</p><p>Willis, a case processor in the Fulton County state court probation office, said the meditation service she attended was about remembering the four people who were killed that day, including a federal agent who was shot later.</p><p>"It's hard to come back and not think about it," said Willis, 54. "There's always a reminder there."</p><p>Justice for the alleged gunman, Brian Nichols, will come later, she said.</p><p>"I can't imagine someone doing that kind of evil and not being held accountable for it," Willis said.</p><p>Hundreds of courthouse employees were expected to pass through the county commission assembly hall to pray, reflect and view portraits of the judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy killed at the courthouse across the street on March 11, 2005. A portrait of the federal agent killed that night was not on display.</p><p>Nichols was in the courthouse being retried on rape charges when he allegedly beat a female deputy guarding him, grabbed her gun and entered the courtroom where his trial was supposed to continue. There, police say, Nichols killed the presiding judge and his court reporter. He later killed a sheriff's deputy who chased him outside the courthouse, and the federal agent, whom he encountered at a home a few miles away, police said.</p><p>Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage at a suburban Atlanta apartment.</p><p>At Friday's meditation service, Chief Judge Doris Downs told mourners the shootings were part of a "fateful day" that no one who works at the courthouse complex will soon forget.</p><p>A memorial garden, which will include the portraits of the three people killed at the courthouse, will be erected in the atrium of one of the three courthouse buildings. A date for its completion was not given.</p><p>While the anniversary is Saturday, the service was held on Friday because court is not in session on the weekend. The shootings also occurred on a Friday.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/3/128303