In an instant, the lives of six Atlanta residents became intertwined when shots rang out in a courtroom at the Fulton County courthouse. According to the Associated Press, Fulton County Judge Rowland Barnes and his court reporter Julie Brandau were the first to lose their lives at the hands of rape trial suspect Brian Nichols, who took justice into his own hands on March 11. Nichols overpowered a courthouse deputy for her gun and opened fire, killing Barnes and Brandau.

Outside the courthouse, Nichols shot and killed Sheriff’s Deputy Hoyt Teasley before fleeing the scene and eventually car-jacking an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter’s vehicle according to FoxNews.com.

Junior Chris Lett, an Atlanta native, said his relatives told him about the tension in the city on that day.

“The city was literally on lock-down,” said Lett. “No one could really go anywhere because authorities were in an intense search for Nichols. Even people coming back from spring break couldn’t get into the city.”

A 26-hour manhunt ensued for Nichols, who killed U.S. Customs Agent David Wilhelm while on the run and took Ashley Smith hostage – the woman who has been credited with saving his life by talking him into turning himself in, according to MSNBC.

During a television interview that aired March 14 on MSNBC, Smith said she tried to reassure him that she would cooperate with his request but the best thing for him to do would be to give himself up peacefully to authorities. She went on to say that they discussed spirituality and faith and it was during these specific conversations she could see the change in Nichols demeanor.

“He came into my apartment like a man without hope, but he left with the peace of feeling that a least one person outside of himself did not see him as a savage,” said Smith.

Smith told reporters that there were many occasions when she could have picked up one of the guns that Nichols had been brandishing because he had become so comfortable with her.

Smith told WAGA-TV that she and Nichols watched news coverage of his manhunt and when he saw his picture he said, “That’s not me. I can’t believe that’s me.”

David Wilhelm, 40, was driven back to Salisbury, N.C. on March 14 in a white hearse for a family burial. As the hearse proceeded down the highway numerous sheriff and local police cars lined the highway and gave salute to their fallen comrade. Wilhelm is survived by his wife.

Judge Rowland Barnes, 64, was laid to rest March 17; he is survived by his wife Claudia, two children and four stepchildren. Court Reporter Julie Brandau, was also laid to rest on March 17. She is survived by her 18-year-old daughter, a first-year student at Auburn University in Alabama.

Hoyt Teasley, 44, was laid to rest on March 18; he is survived by two children.