Nichols Captured in Gwinnett County

[Guest guest]

Yes.... it was us....... Gwinnett County Police. It was amazing to say

the least..

There was a pretty big multi jurisdictional press conference at about 4pm

EST so if you catch that, you will get a lot. As far as the homicide of the

customs officer, that was also in the City of Atlanta.

Well, this is the timeline and info that I can release:

At approximately 0200 this morning the female went out to purchase some

cigarettes. When she came back home Nichols was waiting in the parking lot.

This apt complex was chosen by him at random. He did not know her or anyone

that lived there. Just the luck of the draw, I suppose.

He had taken the pickup truck, badge, ID and gun of the customs officer

yesterday. From what they are saying about that: When he left the green Honda

he took mass transit to where the customs officer was working on his home and

apparently that homicide was random, since he was not on duty.

Anyway, he strong arms this female into her apt at gunpoint at about 0200.

I believe he actually made her follow him to another location where he left

the pickup and then she had to bring him back to her apt. Between then and

about 0935 they developed a rapport with each other (Stockholm syndrome?). She

must have gone into survival mode and did whatever she had to to get out of

this. They talked all night (cant release specifics of the conversation)

but for whatever reason he let her leave at about 0935 when he made her promise

not to call the police. She went to the leasing office where she called

9-1-1 and got my comm center. The zone officer that was dispatched to her

(immediately, of course) interviewed her for a few minutes and was convinced

this

was the real deal. Units were mobilized to secure the perimeter while SWAT

was activated.

The SWAT team arrived, established a plan and went into action. As stated

by the head of the GBI in our debriefing (he was there: this is not a quote,

but close) : it was a well paced, patient, methodical deployment of the team

which resulted in the successful capture of the suspect. Basically, when he

saw the manpower (we had about 35 deployed immediately in the area) and

firepower he realized that he was completely surrounded and there was basically

no

way out, so he surrendered without incident. Even came out waving a white

towel.

As far as Tactical dispatchers, I was on call to go to the scene so I

immediately responded (snuck right in behind a responding unit on the parkway).

Another TD who was off duty responded due to the high profile incident figuring

that it was best to go to the scene where he might be needed. We were able

to bring up the pictometry (see this months magazine article) and we found

the exact location of the CP and the building he was in. Fortunately, one of

our Lt's (SWAT EOD/Tactical) lived in this complex for years so was able to

provide additional information on the complex. The pictometry was able to

assist tactical in formulating the route the team would take to the apt. I did

a

lot of work with dispatch by phone while this was going on. (Side note:

never take anything for granted: SWAT didn't have the info on the customs

agents vehicle. It was on the news as I was leaving and I quickly jotted down

the

tag and provided it on the air when they were asking for it. also

copied it down while he was enroute when he saw the interstate overhead sign

with the info on it).

It was then that the sniper/hasty team surrounded the ground floor apt and

attempted to get the subject out, after which he did with that 'white towel'.

It was amazing to be there with all the jurisdictions: GBI, ATF, FBI and

all the others. A couple of my friends were nice enough to leave me messages

that they saw me on tv. Great.......

I hope to learn more in the future about the things that I dont know yet. I

know that the negotiator that arrived initially and spoke with the female

taped their conversation and I would love to hear what she had to say

specifically.

If you check the local papers website (_www.ajc.com_ (http://www.ajc.com/) :

you will have to sign in) .. there are links to the article and photographs.

_Atlanta, Georgia news | Atlanta Journal-Constitution_ (http://www.ajc.com/)

What a great day! The victims can rest in peace knowing their murderer is

in custoday..

And lets not forget those that were lost.. My condolences to the victims

families from the incidents yesterday. How sad a day it was..

Toni Wyman

SWAT/Tactical Dispatcher

Communications Training Officer

Gwinnett County Police Dept.

Lawrenceville, GA