Atlanta breathed a sigh of relief after Brian Nichols gave himself up on Saturday. He added another victim to the death toll – a US Customs agent he surprised working at his home in Buckhead. The Atlanta Journal Constitution interview with the woman he held for seven hours Friday night into Saturday morning is amazing. The single mother who lost her husband in a knife fight several years ago knew exactly what to say and do, and even chose to delay tipping off the police when she thought a confrontation would ensue, believing instead that he would let her go on Saturday morning. Read the story here.
Courthouse Shooting
Today’s shooting that killed three took place about a half-mile from CNN Center where I work. I drive by the courthouse on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive every morning on the way to the office, and would have likely been right there at 9am when the gunman fired six shots across MLK and killed one of the victims, a sherrif’s deputy, right outside the courthouse.
I had an a 9am meeting today, and came in early to prepare, avoiding the scene.
The brazen gunman wrestled the weapon away from one of the deputies in the courthouse while in a holding area, then shot and killed Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland W. Barnes and his court reporter, 43 year-old Julie Brandau. After he’d escaped the building, he shot and killed the other officer (Sheriff’s Deputy Hoyt Teasley), and carjacked at least two or as many as three vehicles in his efforts to escape, and currently remains at large. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter was pistol whipped and carjacked in the mayhem by the suspect.
UPDATE:CNN is now reporting (and showing) video of the suspect carjacking the AJC reporter in one of Turner’s parking garages, caught on a security camera. Not the one I routinely park in, but right next door. Really quite frightening.
Photo by The Associated Press
Fable Goodness
Gamespot today is reporting that there will be a PC version of Fable coming to us soon. Screenshots, story here at Gamespot.com. I really enjoyed this game on the Xbox, and look forward to this version on the PC. Gamespot’s report below:
Microsoft today announced that the popular Xbox game Fable is headed for the PC this fall, under the name Fable: The Lost Chapters. The much-hyped game was released on Microsoft’s console last September and was developed by Big Blue Box, which is owned by Black & White developer Lionhead Studios.
My guess is that the PC will make for a better experience with this game – the controls were quite obtuse on the Xbox version, and this type of role-playing game should be a perfect fit on the PC.
Turn Around
The ECV this morning was successful! After a dose of terbutaline (which relaxes the womb), Amy took a deep breath and the doctor proceeded to knead her belly, gradually pushing first the head, then the feet, into a head-down position. It took two attempts, but the baby finally turned. Amy showed incredible strength during what looked pretty darn uncomfortable. We then stayed in the labor and delivery room to monitor the baby. The expected outcome is a fairly active baby after the procedure, but Baby Trotz stayed very quiet for quite a while. An IV sugar drip was one attempt at kick-starting activity, and then, a small drip of petosin, to see how the baby would tolerate actual labor. If they saw anything negative at that point in the baby’s heartbeat, they would have induced right then and there! While we were mentally ready for a Cesearean, we had no concept we might have a vaginal birth today. Obviously, things turned out fine, and the doc was happy with Baby Trotz’s reactions to mild contractions, so they fed us some yummy hospital food and sent us on our way. Stay tuned!