ATLANTA -- For the first time since a shooter overpowered a guard and went on a rampage at the Fulton County Courthouse that would ultimately leave four dead, Sheriff Myron Freeman is admitting that his department had security lapses before and during the incident.

In an interview with Channel 2 Action News, Freeman acknowledged that things in his department, which he inherited in January, went awry.

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"Obviously there was something there that happened that was wrong," he said.

Among the lapses, officials said, were the failure by deputies to monitor courthouse surveillance cameras as shooting suspect Brian Nichols was being escorted by a much smaller female deputy and the inability to lock down the building immediately after the shootings.

Freeman also commented on documents found in Nichols' cell that appear to be escape plans. The man's cell was apparently never searched even though deputies allegedly found two crude homemade weapons in his shoes during his rape trial.

Freeman based his statements to Channel 2 Action News on the recollections of deputies and those involved. Those statements were made nearly 10 days after the shooting.

The sheriff said it was too early to determine if anyone would be fired as a result of the attack.

"There was something there that happened that was wrong." - Sheriff Myron Freeman

Nichols, 33, faced a retrial after a hung jury in a previous trial on rape and other charges. He allegedly overpowered a court deputy, taking her gun.

Judge Rowland Barnes, who was presiding over the case, and his court reporter, Julie Brandau, were fatally shot in the building. Deputy Hoyt Teasley, who confronted Nichols as he escaped the courthouse, was shot outside the building.

Nichols is also believed to have killed a federal customs agent later, then stolen his pickup truck, investigators have said.

After the attack, authorities disclosed that the judge and prosecutors in Nichols' case requested extra security after investigators found a knife fashioned from a doorknob in each of Nichols' shoes.

Neither Freeman nor Chief Deputy Michael Cooke said that finding the weapons necessitated an immediate search of Nichols' cell, which could have uncovered the documents in his cell.

Freeman and a top aide also addressed the fact that other deputies were not monitoring cameras as deputy Cynthia Hall escorted Nichols as he was changing from jail clothes to street clothes as his trial was about to start. Prisoners change their garments so as to not influence the deliberations of jurors.

Three deputies were assigned to the room where the cameras, which would have captured the attack on the woman as it was unfolding, are located, but two of them were not in the room, authorities said.

Chief Deputy Michael Cooke, who sat in on the interview with Freeman, said one of the deputies had left the monitoring room to go to a courtroom assignment while another deputy had left to run a personal errand, which apparently involved getting food for a superior.

Also, Cooke said it was not unusual for Hall, who is much smaller than Nichols, who stands 6 feet 1 and weighs over 200 pounds, to have been escorting the prisoner.

"It is not unusal for any deputy sheriff, female or male, to escort an inmate, regardless of their classification," Cooke said. "That's their job. It's a deadly job. It's a dangerous job."

And Cooke defended the placement of Hall with Nichols.

"It was not a mistake," he said. "It was a policy issue. Certainly, we're going to look at policy to see if we need to change it."

Written Documents Found in Nichols' Cell

When asked about the hand-drawn diagrams, Freeman said he did not know what the documents were.

"It's three pieces of paper and it has names on it but I don't know where they were found," Freeman said.

The documents were purported to have been in Nichols' cell when deputies found the crude weapons in the prisoner's shoes. However, the papers were not discoverd because his cell was apparently never searched.

Said Cooke: "You hate to speculate ... contraband is found on inmates daily. It's part of the job," he said. "Does finding contraband on an individual require that we immediately shake down the cell, no it does not."

New Security Measures

Two weeks after the shootings, Freeman said measures have been implemented to bolster security procedures at the building, the busiest courthouse in Georgia.

"We've had extra security in the courtroom," he said, adding that a special team of officers now is escorting "high-profile" prisoners. "We've separated them from the general population," he said.

Also, armed deputies no longer guard prisoners. Instead, they carry stun guns, authorities said.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Dale Cardwell contributed to this report.