Judge killed in court

A JUDGE was gunned down in his court yesterday 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 dead 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.

Witnesses said the gunman, named as Brian Nichols, 33, hijacked a car and police were searching for several vehicles reported stolen in the area.

Nichols was facing rape charges stemming from an incident in August.

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.

A policeman died later in hospital, while a second had minor wounds, police said.

“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 9.10am.

James Bailey, a juror at Nichols’ trial, said the jury was not in the courtroom at the time of the shooting.

Mr Bailey said Nichols had made him and other jurors nervous.

“Every time he looked up, he was staring at you,” Mr 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.