(Columbia) March 12, 2005 - Brian Nichols,
the suspect authorities were searching for in
connection with multiple murders
in an Atlanta courthouse , is a familiar
face in South Carolina in several counties.
SLED Chief Robert Stewart and his agency assisted
Georgia police. They have connected Nichols to at least
four South Carolina counties: Lexington, Richland,
Sumter and Newberry.
Captain John Allard of the
Lexington County Sheriff's Department says Nichols
went to high school in Lexington District One. He lived
in Lexington County and also in the Columbia area.
Police say Nichols has also lived in Richland County and
he has family in Sumter.
Nichols was a student at Newberry College in 1993 and
a defensive end for the football team. WIS spoke with a
Winnsboro man who played football with him in college.
Reggie Shaw lived in the same dorm, and played on the
same Newberry College football team as Nichols back in
1992.
Shaw describes Nichols as a great athlete and a man
of mystery who often kept to himself. Shaw says he
couldn't believe it when he flicked on the news Friday
night and saw his former teammate, "It just seemed
surreal. Is this a dream, or is this really happening?
Not many, it's not everyday that you look on the TV and
see someone you went to school with on the national news
fleeing for his life."
In 1994, Newberry police arrested him for breaking
into a student's dorm room. Chief Stewart
says that's Nichols' only arrest in the
Palmetto State. There are still outstanding warrants for
his arrest in Newberry County.
Stewart says it was a
possibility Nichols would try to hide out in an
area he used to call home, "Short of getting in an
airplane, if he's driving, there's only like three
states or so that he would have to pass through. He is
familiar with this area, so we would have a heightened
interest here."
Nichols was captured Saturday at an apartment
complex hours after a US Customs agent was discovered
shot to death miles away.
Reported by Catherine
Reynolds
Updated 12:08pm by Chantelle
Janelle
