As you've probably heard by now, a man on trial this morning for rape, assault, kidnapping and several other felonies grabbed a deputy sheriff's gun in an Atlanta courthouse and opened fire, shooting the deputy in the mouth and killing a Superior Court Judge and a Court reporter before fleeing. The deputy is expected to survive.

The suspect then escaped, gunning down a second deputy outside the courthouse, this time fatally, and carjacked at least one vehicle. He also pistol-whipped a journalist during his escape.

Police in Georgia and neighboring states launched a massive manhunt for the man, appealing to the public to report any sightings. Electronic highway messages were posted with information on the vehicle the suspect was believed to be driving.

I was unaware of all this at 11:30 a.m. while I was driving over to Doraville for a meeting, and wondered what all the highway signs were talking about. The signs were still up as I headed back from the meeting at 1:30 p.m.

According to the press, "Police said they did not know what had provoked the shooting." Well, I'll go out on a limb here and say that maybe it was because he was on trial for rape, kidnapping and other charges.