It was just after 9 a.m. on March 11, 2005.
Inside the Fulton County Courthouse, the day was shattered by the unthinkable. Brian Nichols, an accused rapist facing life in prison, had just overpowered a sheriff’s deputy.
He then stormed into a courtroom and opened fire, killing a widely respected judge assigned to his trial and a court reporter.
Outside the courthouse, Nichols shot and killed another deputy.
“It was just horrific,” recalled a lawyer, who was arguing an unrelated civil case when the shootings took place.
And then, Nichols was gone.
In just 15 minutes, the state’s busiest courthouse had been shut down. Former Gov. Sonny Perdue stood outside Grady hospital and proclaimed: “It is a sad day for our country.” Miles away, the judge’s neighbors wept in the street when they learned of his death.
The violence reverberated beyond Atlanta: Once again, the nation wrestled with the difficult issue of safely securing its halls of justice.
On Wednesday, 10 years later, ajc.com and myAJC look back on that somber day with special coverage.
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